


Love/Hate You

by krysosthom (dudeandduchess)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Attempted Seduction, Awkward Tension, Blow Jobs, Dirty Thoughts, Dom/sub, Dominant Shikamaru, Drunken Shenanigans, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Frustration, Hate to Love, Jealousy, Mutual Pining, Oral Sex, Post-Fourth Shinobi War, Romance, Sexual Tension, Teasing, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Verbal Sparring, mature themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-01-23 12:43:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 51,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18550006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dudeandduchess/pseuds/krysosthom
Summary: There's a fine line between love and hate, like and dislike, or whatever one may call attraction opposite aversion. Such is the case between Shikamaru and Yūna; they feel the pull between them, but both of them are repelled by their mutual irritation for each other.One way or another, both of them have to give in to their feelings. The question is WHO will crack first? Konoha's resident lazy genius, or the stubborn and conniving lady from Tsukigakure?





	1. 143 - 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I recently re-watched Naruto Shippuden and absolutely fell in love with Shikamaru. However, I noticed the lack of fanfics about him, so I decided to add my own creation.  
> I'll try to update as often as possible.  
> Thank you for reading! Enjoy, lovelies!

The sun hung high up in the sky, casting a warm glow upon the expansive grounds that Shikamaru was traversing with Ino and Chōji… and their overly-pleasant guide that had been assigned to them last night. They had arrived in _Tsukigakure_ around 11 PM, but their hosts had still given them a warm welcome. Too warm, perhaps. It was starting to border on creepy, but he held his tongue. 

“We do hope that you found breakfast to your taste,” their guide, Ueno Tsujiri, stated pleasantly as he looked back at the three Konoha nin behind him and smiled. “If not, please don’t hesitate to tell me your preferences, so that I can address the matter with the cooks for tomorrow’s breakfast.”

“Ah, no, breakfast was good-” Ino answered with a smile of her own, before correcting herself when Chōji nudged her with his elbow. They did **not** want a repeat of last night’s ‘ _good room’_ fiasco. Who knew that the house they were staying at had so many empty rooms? Some of them even having private _onsen_. “Amazing. Breakfast was amazing.”

Tsujiri seemed to catch the little gaffe, but chuckled quietly as he continued their tour. He gestured to their right, where a small wooden bridge led to an impeccable garden. There was a stone bench in the very middle of the foliage, right beneath a trellis that had a crawling plant with a lot of closed flowers. “This is Yūna- _hime_ ’s most favorite garden in the whole compound. It used to be her mother’s garden, until her passing four years ago. Now, Yūna- _hime_ tends to the garden when she’s not out on missions.”

“Are those _Casa Blanca_ lilies?” Ino breathed out, admiration clear in her voice. “It’s a **night** garden.” 

Shikamaru merely shrugged when he met Chōji’s gaze over their teammate’s head. She grew up in a flower shop, they couldn’t blame her for nerding out over some flower. He couldn’t really care less about the flowers, but he had to admit that the garden looked perfect for a nap. If only he wasn’t here on official Konoha business— as the sixth _Hokage_ ’s advisor, no less— he would have already been napping on that bench. 

“It is indeed a night garden, Yamanaka- _sama_.” Tsujiri beamed. He looked way too energetic about it that it was tiring Shikamaru out to just look at him. The older man’s amber-colored eyes narrowed as he grinned, then turned serious once he caught sight of a small flock of birds landing around various spots around the property.

Almost as if the birds had been counting down, they started to **sing** in unison. Shikamaru didn’t even have another word for it— it really was as if the birds were **singing**. He pinned a curious look at Tsujiri, who chuckled under his breath just as a commotion inside the house made all three Konoha nins’ hands twitch towards their own weapons pouches.

The guide noticed their alert stances and nonchalantly waved their reactions off. “Please do not be alarmed. Everyone is just preparing for Yūna- _hime_ ’s arrival, after hearing her message; most people send e-mails or summons, but our clan communicates through birdsong. She said has to prepare for today’s meetings, and that she needs to rush through preparations to not make people wait.”

“Meetings? I thought we were going to meet with Ueno- _sama_ — the head of the clan?” Chōji vocalized what was on his and his teammates’ minds; other than the mind-blowing concept of communicating through **birdsong** , of all things. Just how in the world did they manage to do that? Through their _kekkei-genkai_ , perhaps?

Shikamaru nodded in agreement, all while patiently waiting for an answer. All he knew was that the head family had four children, all three males were _shinobi_ , while the only female was a _kunoichi_. Their father used to be a high-ranking officer before he retired after the war— their family, and their village, had become Konoha’s allies because they were very active members of the _Allied Shinobi Forces_. They had joined to help stop the Akatsuki, after the Ueno matriarch and her youngest children— twins— died under Hidan’s hand.

He didn’t have more information on them, other than the basics, because they kept their clan secrets well-guarded. Even when the eldest Ueno— Akira, if he remembered correctly— was placed in his division during the war, the aforementioned man only volunteered his abilities when necessary. Shikamaru would never forget those chilling, grey eyes of his, and how they turned into a piercing gold before their enemies just started dropping like flies as they clawed at their own faces. It was as if they were living their worst nightmares.

From the corner of his eye, Shikamaru caught a quick flurry of movement as a figure clad in deep blue tones jumped from roof to roof, before landing a few feet away from the front entrance of the main house. She must have been really good at hiding her presence, because he didn’t even sense her coming.

She stumbled a bit, which made him wince at her bad landing, before regaining her footing and striding forward— just as the doors opened and a flurry of hand-maidens flocked around her. One of them was even holding a red kimono in her arms, while ushering her inside the house. Shikamaru didn’t miss the scowl on her pale face.

Tsujiri cleared his throat and all three nins’ attention turned to him. “To answer Akimichi- _sama_ ’s question from earlier: Ueno- _denka_ wants all of his children to know the responsibilities of a clan head so, when he is away on business, Akira- _hiko_ and his siblings take turns with being the clan head. This month, it is Yūna- _hime_ ’s turn to take on the role.”

 _That must have really been confusing_ , Ino thought with a slight smile, but kept her opinions to herself. She didn’t want to offend their host, after all. It would be bad not only for her team, but for Konoha as well, if _Tsukigakure_ retracted their alliance.

Their intrigue with the revelation was evident on their faces, so Tsujiri felt the need to explain further. If the people of _Tsukigakure_ had a good characteristic that was also their fatal flaw, it was their tendency to be overly hospitable to their guests. They weren’t dull enough to give out **everything** , which was good. It kept everyone safe from spies. “Ueno- _denka_ hasn’t chosen a successor to become the head of the clan, but everyone agrees that Yūna- _hime_ is the perfect choice. Even her brothers say so, but she hasn’t given a concrete answer on the matter.”

A frown tugged at the corner of Shikamaru’s lips, and he couldn’t help the tiny flare of irritation inside him at that tidbit of information. She was being given a **choice** , whether to lead her clan or not, despite the fact that everyone was (most likely) pushing her towards the role already. Yet, she wasn’t saddling up and taking responsibility for it. If she really cared about her clan, she would do it. If it were him, he would-

“We can have tea in the orchid garden before we can meet with Yūna- _hime_. Please follow me.” Tsujiri’s voice cut into Shikamaru’s thoughts, and he followed the raven-haired man to wherever that orchid garden was. There were too many gardens in this place.

 

***

 

“Good morning, Yūna- _hime_. If I may introduce our guests from Konoha,” Tsujiri bowed deeply before holding a hand out to them— the vision of a perfect subordinate. “Hatake- _sama_ ’s advisor— Nara Shikamaru- _sama_ , and his team: Yamanaka Ino- _sama_ , and Akimichi Chōji- _sama_.” 

The honorifics were starting to grate on Shikamaru’s nerves, but he refused to say anything about it. All for this deal to go well, he was willing to endure hearing so many honorifics tacked on to everyone’s names. Honestly, the Ueno clan was worse than the Hyūga Clan with their impeccable manners. _Mendokusai_ , Shikamaru thought to himself, looking up to get a good look at the woman whom he had to convince to supply Konoha with her clan’s medicinal herbs.

His breath practically got caught in his throat at his first good look at her. Her grey eyes were so much lighter than her brother’s that they were almost silver. Her skin was a pale white, and looked so smooth and soft from where he stood. Her hair— which had been in a ponytail earlier— was artfully pinned back with gold crescent moon hair ornaments. Currently, her lips were painted a deep red that matched her kimono perfectly, and he couldn’t help but let his eyes linger on the smooth expanse of her neck. He wanted to put hickeys all over it.

Smoothly, Yūna rose up from her seat on the floor and stepped around the low table so that she could offer her hand to her clan’s guests. She started with the Nara man. “It’s a great pleasure to meet you, Nara- _sama_. My name is Ueno Yūna, and I’m currently filling in for my father.”

Shikamaru’s eyes drifted down— quickly bypassing her chest— before settling back up on her face. He immediately pulled his wits together and shook her hand. He had to tamp down the urge to lean down and kiss the back of it. He wasn’t some… playboy, and he was here on official business. **Not** pleasure.

Still, he didn’t miss noting how her hand felt so soft and smooth wrapped around his own. He didn’t even want to think about how he liked the sound of his last name rolling off her tongue.

Yūna settled for a sweet smile as she took note of the internal conflict that the Nara clan head was going through because of her little stunt. Her time spent researching on him and his team was well worth the lost nap time. She had stumped him, and put him at an early disadvantage— which was good for her. Besides, he was kind of cute, so she didn’t mind utilizing her flirting skills.

Now, for the other two.

With Ino, she chose to be friendly and forthcoming, even going as far as to lean forward and brush her cheek against the blonde girl’s in a pseudo, friendly kiss. And, of course, she didn’t miss the compliment that was burning on the tip of her tongue. _‘Your hair is very pretty. And your skin is so rosy and healthy— can you tell me your skincare routine?’_

The girl had replied with a bashful grin, before nodding enthusiastically and promising to tell her later in the evening.

However, with Chōji, Yūna grinned and gripped his hand with both of hers. “Akimichi- _sama_ , I’m a big fan of your clan’s restaurants. The barbecue place right by the market district is my go-to place whenever I’m in Konoha. Oh, if you three are up for it, we can go to my clan’s dessert shop so you can sample a few of our delicacies here in _Tsuki_.”

Chōji had spluttered bashfully, then beamed enthusiastically at the raven-haired woman in front of him. With an affirming nod of her own, she stepped back and regarded him and his teammates once more.

“Please, let’s all have a seat. If you would prefer to have this meeting out in the gardens, that would be fine as well,” the Ueno clan heiress stated with a warm smile, eyes closing with how her high cheeks were pushing upwards.

“Oh, no, right here is fine. It’s a beautiful tea room,” Ino complimented.

Shikamaru eyed his teammates subtly, following their lead and sitting at the table. He was stuck with sitting on the opposite end of the table— right across from Ueno Yūna. He was irritated at her before, but now he was sure that he did **not** like her. She may have had his teammates wrapped around her fingers with her airy compliments and overly warm personality, but he could see right through her. He had to tell Ino and Chōji about her later, when they were alone.

“Thank you for seeing us today, Ueno- _san_ ,” Shikamaru began seriously, and held her gaze with his own. He silently took note of the way that her she would straighten her posture out when her body would slouch forward the barest inch. “I’m sure you’ve read Konoha’s proposition?”

“ _Hm_ , I do love a man who immediately gets down to business,” the raven-haired (conniving, in Shikamaru’s irate opinion) woman answered with a small, saucy smile playing at her lips. The innuendo wasn’t lost on him, and he felt a familiar heat pool at the bottom of his stomach. He did not appreciate how his body was reacting to her. Not one bit. “And yes, I have read your proposition for _toki_ , _shiso_ , _kiku hana_ , and _suetsumuhana_ , Nara- _sama_. I have to say yes to it, but with a few stipulations.”

Yūna steepled her fingers together and leaned forward, readjusting her slouched shoulders so that they were straight. Sitting so stiffly was killing her lower back, but she had to endure it. If they knew her real personality, they wouldn’t have instantly respected her. However, judging by the way that the Nara clan head eyed her suspiciously, he was seeing through her façade. That made her dislike him all the more.

“May I know what those conditions are?” Shikamaru asked coolly. His face was a mask of coolness, and Yūna resisted the urge to click her tongue in irritation.

Instead, she smiled and lightly bit down on her bottom lip, before giving him a subtle wink— praying that it would throw him off enough to agree to her revisions to the proposition. If she threw him off kilter enough, he would just want to get things done and over with. However, she had to be careful to not annoy him too much to the point that he would just say ‘ _fuck it’_ and say no to the deal altogether. Her aim was to fluster, not anger.

On either side of them, Ino and Chōji were watching their exchange with teasing smirks on their lips. Thankfully, they kept quiet. Dealing with them, on top of dealing with Shikamaru would have been too much for Yūna.

From across her, Shikamaru’s cheeks were tinged an adorable shade of red, and she couldn’t help but giggle at how cute it looked on him. “Well, I was thinking of lowering the cost of the herbs to one-thousand _ryō_ per pound, if— **and only if** — my clan receives a ten-percent discount from the textiles that we import from Konoha monthly, and if you will sign a five-year contract with us as your medicinal herb suppliers. We can provide your village’s needs, **and so much more** , Nara- _sama_.”

Shikamaru was quiet for a few seconds, pondering the pros and cons of her hard bargain. Five years was a long time, after all. And what if they couldn’t deliver on the demands for the supply? Konoha would be screwed then. He narrowed his eyes at the woman smiling at him form across the table. “How do I know that you can keep up with the constant demand, Ueno- _san_?”

“Oh, trust me, I can keep up with your demands, Nara- _sama_.” She knew that she was laying it on too thick, but there was no turning back from the approach that she had chosen. “If you would allow me, I can show you the Ueno forest— where we grow our herbs. Unfortunately, I can only take you with me, as the wards only allow one guest of the head family enter our sacred grounds.”

 _A day out with just her. Mendokusai_. Shikamaru grumbled inside his head, still adopting a cool expression on his face as he nodded his assent.

“It’s only a short trek from here, so we can leave now,” Yūna answered with a sweet smile. Then she turned to look at Ino and Chōji, and her smile was replaced by a regretful expression. Shikamaru resisted the urge to scowl. “I do apologize, Yamanaka- _sama_ , Akimichi- _sama_. Tsujiri can take you on a tour of the town while we’re gone, though. We won’t take more than two hours.”

“Don’t mind us, Ueno- _sama_ ,” Ino answered with a giggle as she waved the raven-haired girl’s apology off. “Just don’t have too much fun without us, though.”

 

***

 

Once Tsujiri had walked off with Ino and Chōji, Shikamaru instantly turned to face the woman next to him and looked down at her shorter frame. The top of her head barely reached his nose, even with those _geta_ on her feet.

“Are you going to run in that?” Shikamaru drawled, looking at her kimono-clad form. He was sure that it was made from silk, and that it was most likely hand embroidered— judging by the intricate details of _sakura_ flowers and petals all over the garment.

Yūna shrugged, then shot him a grin that made Shikamaru’s chest tighten. “Why not? You might get a look up my skirt, if you’re lucky, Nara- _sama_.”

“Can you cut the ‘ _Nara-sama’_ crap? I know what you’re trying to do,” Shikamaru grunted.

A coy smile replaced the grin on the girl’s lips. She tilted her head to the side and batted her eyes up at the Nara clan head. “Oh? Would you prefer it if I called you Shikamaru- _sama_ , then?”

The aforementioned male couldn’t stop the blush crawling onto his cheeks, nor could he tamp down the surge of heat that flashed through him at the sound of her practically **moaning** his name with that honorific.

“Whatever. Let’s just go.”

“Okay. You better not make me wait.” She shot at him with a smug expression on her face, before she darted off in the direction of her clan’s sacred forest. She didn’t even bother with her fake politeness anymore. He already knew that it was merely an act. There was no use in pretending with him.

The change from the residential grounds to the forest grounds was pretty obvious with the way that the cemented road just cut off to a dirt road that was lined with gigantic trees. Yūna took to the tree branches, and had to hum in reluctant approval as she sensed Shikamaru flawlessly mirror her movements. Both of them jumped from branch to branch at lightning speed.

She knew that her kimono was flying behind her, and probably granting Shikamaru quite an eyeful of her legs, but she couldn’t care less. He could look, but she wouldn’t let him touch. Maybe. He was fairly attractive, so **maybe** a kiss wouldn’t hurt.

Not even ten minutes later, Yūna jumped down from the last tree branch at the end of the line, then stopped in front of a _Torii_ gate. On either side of the gate, though, were two stone pillars with the Ueno family name engraved on it, and minuscule carvings of what seemed to be a seal all over the stone.

Shikamaru stepped up to stand beside the conniving female, and watched her intently as she raised her right hand, then pushed a bit of her chakra into the tips of her index and middle finger, before tapping the empty space inside the _Torii_. Instead of the regular blue, her chakra was silvery (almost translucent, but shimmering), which made him narrow his eyes at her.

The barrier to the forest flashed once, as if her chakra reverberated off of the invisible walls, and he had to quirk an eyebrow when she clicked her tongue in an irritated manner. She turned to look up at him, not bothering to smooth out the scowl on her features. “Do you have a pen or anything that can write on skin? I forgot that I need to put a mark on you, to show the guardians of the forest that you’re **my** guest. It would be unfortunate if they killed you on sight.”

He had never encountered such a powerful ward before, and he had to silently admit that he was impressed. Though, he wasn’t going to tell her that. “Unless you want to mark me with a _kunai_ , then no, I don’t have anything on me.”

She grumbled something that suspiciously sounded like _‘I bet you’d just love that’_ to Shikamaru, before she ran the tip of her index finger over her lips. Her eyebrows quirked up in mild surprise, before she let her gaze dart between the red lipstick stain on her finger and her companion’s cheek. He seemed to get where the direction of her thoughts were going, and his lips thinned out into an unamused line.

“Unless you have a better idea, then yeah,” Yūna stated with an unladylike snort. “Or if you want to run back to the nearest house to borrow a pen, be my guest.”

“ _Mendokusai_ ,” the Konoha nin grumbled as he secretly tried to calm his suddenly-racing heart. She was only going to mark him with her lipstick, so why was he even nervous? He had done so much more than be kissed.

“Where do you want it?”

“Anywhere that won’t get me killed by your forest guardians.”

The raven-haired girl pondered over it for a few seconds— a choice between his cheek or his neck, and she chose what she knew would rile him up more. Annoying Nara Shikamaru was slowly starting to become a preferred activity of hers. He was just so… easy. Her brother, Akira, had totally been wrong when he told her that Shikamaru was infallible.

Unabashed, the Ueno clan heiress reached up to grab the collar of his flak jacket, then pulled it away from his neck as she leaned forward and pressed a tiny, open-mouthed kiss against his warm skin— even going as far as to suck lightly just to further agitate him.

A quiet moan escaped the Konoha nin’s throat, and he resisted the urge to slap himself when he heard the conniving woman’s suppressed giggle. She pulled away from him, and admired the deep red imprint of her lips against his cream-colored skin.

“It looks good on you, if I may say so.”

“Can you please stop talking nonsense?”

Yūna’s eyebrows rose up as a catty smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “You can just tell me to shut the fuck up, you know? But yeah, too bad, you can’t make m- _mmm_ ”

It went against Shikamaru’s own moral compass to be rude to a member of the fairer sex but, really, Ueno Yūna irritated him to no end. He continued pressing the palm of his left hand against her mouth, not budging as she gripped his wrist with both hands and tried to tug it away. When she knew that he wasn’t going to budge, she glared hotly at him.

In response to her silent anger, he leaned forward with a self-satisfied, and very lazy-looking, smirk. “Shut. Up.” He drawled, then added, “Please.”

Her grey eyes lost the glare they held, but the evil gleam in them didn’t disappear. Instead, that glint got even brighter as her eyes practically danced with joy. Before he could even tell what she had planned to do, she had opened her mouth and licked his palm.

“What the fuck?” Shikamaru yelped as he pulled his hand away. He stared down at the wet spot in the middle of his palm, then angrily wiped it against his pants.

He knew, then and there, that he would rather deal with the seductive and conniving witch persona that she had adapted earlier, instead of this childish… she-devil. There was no other way to describe her.

He was looking forward to the next two days of his diplomatic visit. **Not**.


	2. 143 - 2

It wasn’t ideal, but being in the Ueno clan’s sacred forest with Yūna made Shikamaru’s nerves stand at attention— all for the wrong reasons. He was supposed to be wary of those forest guardians that the heiress had mentioned earlier, but he was warier of **her**. Every step they took into the dark and damp woodland, she sidled closer to him. If it was for his benefit or hers, he didn’t know. All he knew was that she smelled so tempting.

“As you can see right here, Shikamaru- _sama_ ,” the woman began in a mildly snooty tone. He looked away from the group of trees that he had been sensing some form of chakra from, and turned his attention to her. Not the bush that she was motioning to, but her face. “We have more of these farther into the forest, but it would take us about half a day to get to the field that’s filled with them.”

Her mouth kept on moving, and he could hear all the words that she said, but he couldn’t quite make sense of them. He wanted nothing more than to close the gap between them and kiss her senseless. But he **wasn’t** going to do that.

She kept on going, not even checking if he understood whatever the hell she was talking about. He faintly remembered _yomogi_ and _chousenninjin_ fields being mentioned, before a disturbing sound cut through the silent forest.

It was akin to breathless panting, and snorting at the same time. Shikamaru didn’t know what to expect, so he pulled out a kunai from his pouch and turned towards the shrubbery where the noise came from. The sound of paws treading over grass reached his ears, and he threw the kunai— just as Yūna shoved him with a loud cry of _‘what the fuck are you doing?’_. 

A high-pitched yelp sounded from the shrub, and a grey **thing** came running out from it. The small creature scrambled over to Yūna with frantic movements, and the raven-haired girl didn’t hesitate to scoop it up in her arms and cradle it to her chest. She didn’t even mind if her _kimono_ was getting dirty as she cooed at the creature. 

Shikamaru looked closer at the thing in his companion’s arms, and he felt shame roiling in his gut. It was a dog. Sure, it looked like a mix between the Sixth’s Pakkun and the Fifth’s Ton-Ton, but with grey fur and ears that looked like bat wings perched atop its head. He’d never encountered such a weird-looking dog before so, in his defense, it was easy to mistake it for something dangerous.

“Everything’s fine. You’re fine, Taro,” Yūna cooed to the dog, who snuggled further against her and gave her palm a tentative lick. Then, she turned to glare at Shikamaru. “ **Nothing** in this forest will harm you as long as you have my mark, Nara- _sama_. You have my word. So, if you can refrain from attacking my forest guide, or any of my clan’s forest guides that we will come across, that would be great.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that,” Shikamaru apologized softly, sounding sincere even to his own ears.

A beat of silence passed them by, before Yūna sighed and shook her head. Clearly, she was upset. “There’s nothing to apologize for. I should have explained everything in detail instead of… you know. Let me explain this clearly: there **are** guardians that watch over this forest. I can’t tell you what they are, because that is a clan secret, but they do exist and they have killed trespassers before.”

Yūna took a deep breath to calm her rattled nerves, and gently scratched the space between Taro’s ears. He didn’t even move or flinch from his nap in her arms. Then, she continued, “This is Taro. He’s my forest companion. Members of the main branch of the clan can only enter the forest by themselves once they turn eighteen, and a dog is assigned to them to be their companion. Companions are only born when a clan member is approaching their birthday, and that clan member is then tasked to take care of his or her dog.”

“Do those forest companions live here in the forest?” The Nara clan head asked quietly, his gaze lingering on the still-sleeping dog in Yūna’s arms.

She nodded. “Yes, but they can also choose to stay with us. We need them as guides, because there is a big chance of getting lost in this place— and they also help us look for herbs that we need. They may not look like it, but they have a really good sense of smell. And they’re cute, which is a plus. Here, try to pet Taro. He loves that.”

The raven-haired girl moved towards Shikamaru, lifting the admittedly heavy puppy higher in her arms. The latter, however, hesitated for a fraction of a second before lifting his right hand up and gently scratching at Taro’s head. He miscalculated his motions and, before he could stop it, his fingers had already brushed against Yūna’s right breast. She bit down on her bottom lip in an effort to keep a whimper from escaping, but failed.

Grey irises met brown ones, and both nin stepped away from each other.

“I’ll take you to see the fields for the herbs that you need,” Yūna mumbled stiffly, avoiding looking at Shikamaru’s red face.

“Okay,” The Nara clan head muttered in response. Then, he put his hands in his pockets— silently trying to forget the feel of her nipple against his fingertips. She wasn’t even wearing a bra underneath that _kimono_ of hers.

 _Such a troublesome woman_ , Shikamaru thought to himself.

 

***

 

To say that the rest of their little trip was awkwardly silent was the understatement of the century. Shikamaru would have rather been re-reading through contracts up in the Hokage’s office. That was how awkward it was. 

And, despite all that awkwardness, he still felt the mild undercurrent of irritation coursing through him. Not only was he annoyed because she had suddenly started treating him so… **impersonally** , but he was also annoyed because he was sexually frustrated. If he were a lesser man, he would have grabbed her by the shoulders and would have had her already gasping his name in pleasure, but he wasn’t going to stoop that low. It was obvious that she also had some pretty racy thoughts about him, but she couldn’t even act on them anymore after that touch. 

Overall, he was annoyed at Ueno Yūna because she could talk the talk, but she couldn’t walk the walk. 

Yūna was silent on the outside but, deep in the confines of her mind, she was waging a war with herself. She was being the world’s biggest tease earlier but, after Shikamaru had accidentally brushed against her breast, she immediately pulled back. It wasn’t like her to shy away from sex or anything physical, but the intensity of how much she wanted to fuck Nara Shikamaru actually **scared** and **thrilled** her.

She had never wanted to get fucked by someone so bad in her 18 years of existence. Damn her womanly hormones.

When they got back to the main house, Ino and Chōji still weren’t back with Tsujiri, and Yūna cursed under her breath as she brushed the pawprint-shaped dirt tracks off of her _kimono_. She had left Taro at the forest, since he was merely 5 months old and still needed to learn about the area with his pack. So, when they came across one of his brothers, Yūna reluctantly left him there with the promise of coming to visit him the following day.

“If you’d like, we could have lunch now,” Yūna offered softly. She avoided looking into Shikamaru’s eyes, settling for the space between his eyebrows instead.

He nodded in reply, about to open his mouth to answer when one of the main house’s housekeepers came running up to Yūna with frantic eyes. “Yūna- _hime_ ,” the short woman began, then hesitated for a fraction of a second before blurting out the rest of her spiel. “The elders are here **again**. And they have another one.”

Shikamaru had never seen someone’s expression change so quickly. From unsure and a little awkward, the raven-haired girl’s features held such venom in them that her anger was almost palpable in the air. “Another one?” He managed to ask the housekeeper just as Yūna stormed off.

The brunette lady bowed deeply at him, then muttered an apology. “Nara- _sama_ , I’m so sorry for being rude. The elders have been pressuring Yūna- _hime_ to choose a suitable husband since she came of age four months ago, and they have been bringing suitors to the main house in the hopes that she would like them.”

A cold wave of killing intent made Shikamaru tense up, before he darted after Yūna without a second thought. She was marching over the _engawa_ like a woman possessed, and people actually darted out of her way and bowed deeply to her as she passed them without a shred of acknowledgement. 

“Ueno- _san_ ,” Shikamaru called after her. She paid him no mind and stepped up to a closed _shoji_ before throwing it open with so much force that the wooden door almost flew off of its panel.

The occupants of the room all let out varying sounds of alarm, just as the Ueno heiress reached beneath her _kimono_ to grab three throwing spikes from the holster on her thigh. She threw the weapons with such force and accuracy that they pierced the middle of the table with a simultaneous thunk. “I said **no**. I request all of you to not test my patience, because there **will** be consequences, dearest elders.”

Shikamaru had just sidled up next to Yūna and was about to reach out to touch her arm to hold her back, when she opened her mouth to spew a half-truth, “I already have somebody in mind to be my husband, so these underhanded schemes have got to stop.”

Yes, she did have somebody in mind. **Nobody**.

All four elders, and the poor sap that they had sweet talked into coming over for a possible marriage all balked when they took in the sight before them. Nara Shikamaru had reached out and touched Yūna’s _kimono_ -clad arm, then asked in a hushed tone, “Are you alright? You need to calm down.” 

Slowly, Yūna let her anger seep out of her system. She took deep breaths to get herself on-kilter, then opened her eyes to regard the people inside the small tea room. She was surprised to see that those four old banes of her existence were bowing their heads slightly.

“We apologize, Yūna- _sama_. We did not know that you had already chosen Nara- _sama_ to be your bethrothed.” Souichirō, the eldest in the bunch and the head of the pain-in-the-ass council, apologized softly. Then, he added, “On behalf of the council, we welcome you to the Ueno clan, Nara- _sama_. We apologize for stepping out of line.” 

“ **What**?” Yūna hissed under her breath, then took in Shikamaru’s disheveled appearance— **and her deep red lipstick mark on his neck**. Then, she looked down at herself and pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation when she realized that she wasn’t looking too impeccable as well. Her _kimono_ was askew and dirty, and she was sure that her hair wasn’t faring any better than her clothes.

Shikamaru, after running through all the possible outcomes of what he was going to do next, deemed his decision worth following through with, so he subtly tightened his grip on Yūna’s arm and stepped up to stand beside her. “No apologies are necessary. However, I respectfully ask all of you to not let this happen again. Please respect Yūna- _san_ ’s personal choices.”

With that, the Konoha nin pulled the Ueno heiress away from the awestruck personalities in the room. He only let her go when they were far enough from the scene, and when she started struggling in his grip.

It had only been roughly four hours since they met, but she was already being such a drag. He couldn’t just let her deal with her clan’s elders by herself, though— so he decided to help her out. Maybe that would even earn him enough brownie points with her to lower the cost of the herbs even more, or even throw in something else to sweeten the deal for him. Besides, he doubted that anyone from Konoha was going to find out about it when people rarely travelled to _Tsuki_. 

The village itself was a four-hour run from Konoha, which wasn’t really that far— but it was more the terrain that people had to go through to get to the Moon Village. Chōji was complaining about the uphill trek that they had to endure for a good two hours.

“Why did you do that? Why help me?” Yūna asked with narrowed eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to assess what could have pushed her diplomatic guest to have risked his reputation just to get the elders off her back for some time.

“I saw that you needed it and decided to help.” Shikamaru shrugged. “My own clan’s elders have been sending me not-so-subtle hints of me settling down and producing an heir, but they’re not as bad as yours.”

That wasn’t a lie, but Yūna knew that there was more to it than that. She’d done these business deals one too many times, and experience had taught her that people always wanted something else. “You want me to add something to the agreement. What is it? Tell me now so I can consult my brothers and my father about it.”

A small smile made its way on to Shikamaru’s lips. He couldn’t help but be impressed yet irritated that she had seen right through him. She was good. Though, he didn’t think that she would **ask** about what he wanted to add to the agreement. Still, there was no sense in looking a gift horse in the mouth. “How does eight hundred _ryō_ per cart of iron ore sound to you?” 

That didn’t sound half bad, but Yūna knew that she still had to run it by her family. She could agree to the decisions concerning the herbs and flowers since she was the one who was in charge of the section of the clan’s business, but Haru (her second eldest brother) always had the final say with decisions concerning the mines.

It wasn’t exactly a secret that their clan had their fingers in a lot of flourishing businesses, but it always surprised people when they found out that she and her siblings were running most of them. Akira had taken over running the medicine laboratory deep within the Ueno forest, Haru had started running the mines two years ago, Yūna had just been handed the helms of the Ueno forest and their gardens, while their youngest brother— Hisaki— was trying to improve their late mother’s small chain of dessert shops.

Yūna hummed quietly in approval, but gave Shikamaru a hard look. “I’ll have to consult with my family and, once I do, I’ll get back to you on that.”

“I’ll be sure to revise the contract, Ueno- _san_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated. <3


	3. 143 - 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, everyone! Thank you so much for the feedback on this. I honestly thought that no one would even give this the time of the day. So, thank you! <3

“Yū- _chan_ , since when were you engaged to Nara Shikamaru?” Haru (20) asked with a chortle as he wrapped an arm around his younger sister’s shoulders. 

Yūna rolled her eyes and tried to shake her brother’s arm off, to no avail. She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes— which she knew were the same eerie yellow color as hers. If she were any closer to his face, she would see the faint lines where the crescent moons that took up half of his irises. From her vantage point, though, it merely looked as if his eyes were an ombré shade that went from deep gold to a light yellow.

The _Mugen no Yume_ (often called _Mugen_ for short) really was a beautiful _dōjutsu_. Beautiful, but extremely dangerous if it fell to the wrong hands. Only those who were deemed worthy by the forest guardians were given the ability to materialize the _mugen_ — which were a mere twenty-or-so people in their big clan. So, they didn’t really worry about it getting into the wrong hands.

Aside from rendering its target incapable of battle— since it made them live out their worst nightmares—it also allowed them to walk through peoples’ dreams. Another perk that Yūna and her brothers had discovered was that they (the ones who had the _mugen_ ) could all meet up in their own dream world. Granted, their bodies were left vulnerable in a state of slumber, but it was easier than whistling long messages to the small flocks of wren that always followed them.

The wrens were handy for short, one-time messages, but they weren’t ideal for messages that needed an immediate response. And so, _dream walking_ (as Akira had dubbed it) was born. 

“I’m **not**. He was merely helping me get the elders off my back.” Yūna scoffed. “They went to the house with another suitor! Can you believe the nerve of those geezers?”

“They just want you to choose a suitable husband, since you’re the best choice as the next clan head,” Akira (23) — the eldest out of the four of them— cut in with a chuckle and an airy wave of his hand. “Your husband needs to be able to handle the pressure of being in a position of power. And he needs to be humble enough to accept that **you** are the clan head, and not him. Nara- _san_ does seem like a great choice, but he’s already the head of his own clan.”

“Yeah, how would that even work, Yūna- _nee_? You two can’t get married and live in separate clans.” Their youngest brother— Hisaki (15)— piped up in a teasing manner as he manifested into their regular meeting realm. Obviously, all of them were only pulling their sister's leg, since it wasn't often that they had any ammunition for it.

All of them had had a hard time choosing which setting to adapt for their dream realm but, eventually, they had agreed on settling for the old zen garden that was destroyed in the war. The garden held so many memories for them, and they were devastated that they wouldn’t be able to recreate two hundred years of their clan’s history after the war was over. So, they opted to hold their meetings in the said garden.

Yūna sat down on the wooden platform that surrounded the small lily pond in the middle of the garden, then closed her eyes to envision herself wearing her favorite blue _yukata_. When she opened her eyes, she was donning the garment instead of her pajamas.

Her brothers didn’t even bother to clean themselves up. All of them sat around the pond in their shorts and nothing else. She didn’t really mind, but they could have at least put in **some** effort to be decent.

“Where’s papa?” Yūna asked with a pointed look at Haru. After all, he was the one who had gone with their father on his business trip to the Land of Earth.

He merely made an expression that expressed his distaste, then shook his head. The man bun atop his head (which had earned him so much teasing from all his siblings) moved along with him. “He’s stuck in a meeting. This bastard is cheap as hell. He wants the ore for four hundred a cart, including shipping. I don’t know how papa does it, but I would have punched his face and told him to suck on my balls already.”

Yūna grinned and shook her head. Then, she let her gaze flit to each of her brothers. All of them had similar features: black hair (in various stages of style), the trademark Ueno eyes which were currently sporting the _mugen_ , and creamy skin that were in various states of tan. Haru had the darkest tan out of all of them, which made his skin a covetous, lightly sun-kissed color. 

Akira ran a hand through his neatly coifed undercut, then sighed. “I really don’t like how it’s as if papa is trying to get us ready for his death. I appreciate the lessons, but he still has so many years left in him.”

Not refraining from holding back, their only sister manifested a _geta_ in her hand and chucked it at Akira’s head. The sandal hit his forehead, which caused him to start letting out a string of curses as he glared at the culprit.

“Stop fucking sulking. And you always wonder why your girlfriends leave you by the second week,” Yūna quipped with a glare. Then, she turned to their youngest sibling who was grinning from ear to ear at her.

“There’s no use telling him. Akira- _nii_ ’s a natural-born sulker,” Hisaki teased, which earned him a glare from Akira. “What? It’s **true**.”

From where he sat, Haru moved towards the lily pond and changed it into a shallow bath so they could soak their feet. Instantaneously, all his siblings moved to dip their feet into the warm water as well. A small smile lit up his face at the action, because if it weren’t for their mutual love for _onsen_ and their penchant for pampering themselves, he would have thought that they weren’t related.

A thick silence descended upon their small group, as they tried to ignore the huge elephant in the room. Their father was sick. He wasn’t just sick, as in a flu, but he was slowly dying. No matter how many tests they did or how many medicines they made for him, he still remained sick. They tried to be optimistic, but all of them just **knew** that his death was inevitable. 

It really was ironic; to have a man who had almost every possible medicinal herb— along with an advanced medical research facility— at his disposal, but there was nothing that could save him. Not yet, anyway.

No one outside the four of them and the elders knew about Ueno Akio’s predicament, and they wanted to keep it that way. They didn’t want people to pity their father. He was a strong man, and they wanted him to live the rest of his years in a relatively normal environment. Pity would only warp that normalcy into a cushioned and suffocating world for him. 

“Shikamaru- _sama_ made a proposition earlier.” Yūna broke the silence, and all her brothers looked up at her with teasing smiles on their faces. 

“ _Oi_ , Yū- _chan_ , don’t use his nickname in bed with us. Disgusting.” Akira scoffed playfully.

Haru laughed at that and leaned forward to high-five Akira. Yūna merely rolled her eyes and kicked her right leg up to splash some water across Akira’s smug face. He spluttered a bit and wiped the water off with the back of his hand.

“Nice comeback, _nee-chan_ ,” Hisaki guffawed and leaned forward to high-five Yūna. 

“As I was saying earlier, **he** made a proposition. Eight hundred per cart of iron ore, which isn’t bad— but I was thinking of giving it at a thousand _ryō_ per cart to include transportation costs and a nin escort so that the materials don’t get stolen _en-route_ ,” the sole female Ueno in the realm stated in a soft but serious tone. Her brothers listened intently, because they knew that she wasn’t done with her explanation. 

“The production cost per cart is around five hundred— give or take— so we would still be making three hundred per cart. I checked our logs and saw that Konoha orders an average of seventy carts every month. That’s a guaranteed twenty-one thousand every month. If we add in the extra two hundred for shipping, we have fourteen thousand extra. Which leaves us nine thousand if we deduct the cost of a D-rank mission.

“Overall, the deal gets us two hundred sixty-one thousand every year. I’ll try to make Shi- **Nara- _sama_** sign a ten-year contract as a stipulation, which earns us a stable client. What do you think?” Yūna wiggled her toes beneath the warm water, as she passed her gaze over her brothers. All of them looked pensive, but in agreement with her statement. 

“It is a bit small, but if it means good relations between _Tsuki_ and Konoha, then it’s fine,” Haru agreed with a solemn nod. Then, a teasing grin bloomed on his face. “So, Shikamaru- _sama_ , huh? It’s only been a day and he already has you so pliant. Is he treating you right in bed, though?”

“Most brothers would kill the person taking their sister to bed, you know?” Yūna huffed with a roll of her eyes. She tamped down the urge to blush, and her face remained positively blush-free. She was never more thankful for this realm than she was at that moment.

All three of her siblings shrugged. Then, Akira spoke up. “You’re old enough already, and we’re hardly virgins ourselves, so we don’t see the need for double standards.”

Sometimes Akira said the coolest things. **Sometimes**.

“Oh, by the way, while lover boy is there, can you tell him of our decision to join the _Shinobi Union_? I’ve already talked to Suki- _baa_ - _chan_ about it, and she’d agreed to let us handle _Tsuki_ ’s relationship with the Union. We just have to run everything through her, and report to her after every meeting.” And sometimes the things that spewed from Akira’s mouth made Yūna want to smack him.

The raven-haired girl balked. “But shouldn’t **she** be the one telling Nara- _sama_? Since she’s, oh, I don’t know, the leader of the village?”

“You know you can call him Shikamaru- _sama_ in front of us? We won’t judge,” Hisaki teased their sister, who shot him the most curdling look that it made him flinch.

“She already has enough on her plate, so she needs all the help she can get.” Akira shrugged.

“And we don’t? I’m up to my neck in documents that I need to review and sign because **someone** -” Yūna cast a scathing glare over at Haru. “Didn’t do the paperwork involved during their month. Besides, it would look so bad if it came from **me** , the mere _jōnin_ daughter of a clan head.”

“Well, about that…” the eldest Ueno sibling trailed off with a sheepish expression on his face.

Yūna squawked, “What did you do?”

“It wasn’t me, I swear! It was Suki- _baa-chan_ ’s idea! She just sent over a scroll that officially appoints you as _Tsuki_ ’s representative in the Union. I tried to tell her that you were busy, but she-” 

She didn’t even let her brother finish his explanation before she disappeared from the dream realm. Her eyes snapped open and her body tried to correctively sync with her conscious— which made her head spin. That was one of the downsides to travelling to their dream realm and staying for long periods.

It had only felt like an hour or so in the dream realm but, judging by the way that the early morning light filtered in through the _shoji_ , she was there for a good five hours— at most. A tired groan escaped her lips and she threw an arm across her heavy eyes. She just wanted to sleep, but so many things had to be done today.

 

***

 

Breakfast was a silent affair, since she was the first one to wake up and opted to just have a cup of tea while walking through the night garden with a silk robe with an elaborate version of her clan’s emblem— a circle that represented the sun housing a crescent moon— embroidered into the fabric.

Yūna chose to sit down on the stone bench under the trellis of moonflowers. She lifted her mug of tea to her lips and swallowed the warm liquid, all while admiring the blue-ringed flowers that were slowly starting to close with the rising of the sun. She closed her own eyes and focused on the breathing exercises that her mother had taught her to calm herself when she was feeling overwhelmed. It worked like a charm, yet she still kept her eyes closed. 

“I know you’re there, Nara- _sama_ ,” the Ueno heiress whispered softly. She opened her eyes and let her gaze flick over to the edge of the garden, where Shikamaru was just about to walk back towards the main house. 

Shikamaru offered her a tight smile, then reached up to awkwardly scratch at the back of his neck. He was only wearing a pair of black sweatpants, and a grey shirt that had his clan’s emblem on the left sleeve. The raven-haired girl had to admit that he looked positively attractive in the simple get-up. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.” 

“It’s fine. Sleepless night?” 

He nodded. Though he didn’t move to further elaborate on the reason why he had such a sleepless night. He would rather streak across Konoha in his birthday suit than tell her that he had been plagued by less-than-appropriate dreams about her.

“I have something that can help you with that. If you want, you’re more than welcome to come to my room tonight so I can give it to you,” Yūna offered softly, then finished the last sip of her tea to hide the catty smile that was playing at her lips. She couldn’t help it, since the baffled expression on his face warranted such a reaction.

It wasn’t hard for the Nara clan head’s mind to fall into the gutter as soon as he heard the words from her mouth. His entire body heated up, even as his blood felt cold in his veins. A brief replay of the things that transpired yesterday played in his mind and— before he could even stop his body— he had already _shunshin_ -ed a few feet away from her and had already wrapped his fingers around her wrist.

Cool, grey eyes darted up to his face in surprise, and Yūna slowly pulled the lip of the mug away from her own rosy lips. She tried to subtly shake Shikamaru’s grip off of her, but he held firm as he regarded her with a scowl. 

Yūna’s heart started beating so hard in her chest that she feared that it made it hard to breathe, and her brain went haywire as a warm blush crawled up her neck and settled on her cheeks. She had teased other men before, even slept with some of them, but no one was unaffected enough to be **irate** with her. None of them were so immune to her teasing charms that they resisted her. And, most of all, none of them were as smart and sexy as Nara Shikamaru.

She had thought that flustering him enough to get this negotiation done as quickly as possible would be as easy as with all the others before him, but she was so damn wrong. Her plan had worked for a full ten minutes before he picked up on it and proceeded to tear it to shreds. In her crazy mind, that was sexy as hell.

“Shikamaru.” The name slipped past Yūna’s lips like a breathless plea. And before she could wrap her mind around it, the raven-haired male had already pushed her left hand down and was pressing his lips to hers.

It didn’t take long for her mouth to become pliant beneath his own. Yūna’s lips slowly parted when his left hand came up to cup her jaw, but he pulled away from the kiss and let the pad of his thumb lightly drift against the seam of her lips. Slowly, she let her tongue lick up against the digit before lightly sucking it into her mouth. 

Shikamaru could only watch with baited breath as she played with his thumb— circling her tongue around the tip and gently nipping at it with her teeth. He wanted nothing more than for her to do all of that **and more** to his steadily-hardening cock. “You have such a pretty mouth, Yūna.”

The sound of her name falling from his lips was enough to add to the arousal that was building between her legs, and it was also enough to shake her from the lust-induced haze that made her do a pseudo blowjob on Nara Shikamaru’s thumb. Yūna didn’t even want to ask herself just how long it had been since she lost got laid, but she blamed her temporary loss of common sense to just **that**. 

She pulled away from Shikamaru’s thumb, then stood up so that they would be on equal footing— more or less. She was less intimidated, even though he was a few inches taller than her. His left hand had fallen from her face, but his right one still remained around her wrist.

Both of them stayed there, with their gazes fixed on each other, as they waited for the other to break the intermittent silence. But no one was giving in. So, the silence remained. 

Until the faint padding of feet inside the house rang loudly in the quiet morning.  “Yūna- _hime_! Nara- _sama_!”

Shikamaru released his grip on her just as another member of her clan— judging by the small emblem embroidered on the left hand side of his flak jacket— approached them with three scrolls. He bowed deeply at the waist, then handed two scrolls over to Shikamaru, and one scroll to Yūna. “They came from the village chief’s office just now. Sukino- _sama_ ’s assistant said that it was urgent, and should be given to you as soon as possible.”

The couple exchanged wary looks before opening their scrolls; with Shikamaru choosing to open the one that was addressed to him more casually, as in: 

> ** Nara Shikamaru, Nara Clan Head **

As opposed to the one that was addressed much more formally:

> ** Nara Shikamaru, Advisor to _Konohagakure_ ’s  _Rokudaime_ ,  **
> 
> ** Coordinator of the Shinobi Union, Nara Clan Head **

His eyes flitted over the words written on the parchment, and he had to lick his suddenly-dry lips as he cast a furtive glance over to Yūna, who was reading her own scroll with her lips pursed into a thin line. Clearly, she was not happy about the contents of the letter. 

He had to admit that he was a tad wary of the news of her being _Tsuki_ ’s representative in the Union— because of what had just happened between them. But he couldn’t deny that he was  **happy** at the prospect of seeing her more after this diplomatic/business visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated! <3


	4. 143 - 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thank you so much for the support on this. I honestly never thought that it would get any attention. I'm so happy to know that you guys gave this the time of the day. <3
> 
> Also, true to the story's title, things will be a bit frustrating between Shikamaru and Yūna. But, don't worry, it'll get better soon. I have so much planned for this story— more than the romantic comedy vibes that it's putting off right now. <3

Grey eyes flitted warily from the small stack of papers laid before them, to the raven-haired Konoha nin sitting across the table. Both _shinobi_ were left with Ino, Chōji, and Tsujiri in the formal meeting room inside the Ueno clan’s main house, and to say that the air between them was awkward would have been the understatement of the century. 

Both Yūna and Shikamaru tried to ignore the proverbial elephant in the room— i.e. what had transpired between them earlier. That was proving to be a futile attempt, though, since their own perspective of the exchange kept playing in their respective minds. 

Yūna’s lips were positively tingling with the lingering feel of the Nara clan head’s lips against hers. And though she tried to save the talk for later, her mind kept lingering on the possible words that they were going to exchange later— or maybe non-words. She wasn’t too sure on how Shikamaru was going to respond. She certainly was **not** expecting to be kissed that morning.

From where he sat, Shikamaru fidgeted with the collar of his flak jacket. It felt too constricting against his body— or maybe that was the unusual tight feeling of his skin against his body. He didn’t know why his body was reacting the way that it was, but all that he was sure of was that his whole body felt like it was humming with a low undercurrent of electricity. Hell, his fingertips were tingling. 

It was either he was poisoned, or it was because he was itching to pull Yūna across the table and just have his way with her. If it were up to him, she would already be moaning his name as he pounded into her. But that was mere fantasy. Reality wasn’t even close to what he was imagining.

“For clause twenty-two on page sex- **SIX** , on page **SIX** ,” the raven-haired girl blubbered out and immediately tried to remedy her mistake. Her face heated up with a blush, and she could do nothing but duck her head and cover the lower half of it with the contract. “It states that my clan is to be the only source of _Tsuki_ ’s representative for the _Shinobi_ Union. I accept this responsibility on behalf of my clan but, as the coordinator of the Union, do **you** accept this term?”

To his benefit, Shikamaru had kept his expression impassive, even as her mistake from earlier warmed his body even more. He cleared his throat, then nodded. “I do agree, unless there are any other clans who are willing to take on the opportunity after your term?”

“A term is five years, correct?”

Shikamaru nodded once more. Five years of seeing her on and off sounded so bothersome, yet was also a pleasing concept to him. “Correct.”

“The other clans might be interested in becoming the representative for the Union, but we can revise the clause after my term is through. If you agree, of course?”

“ _Hm_. Can you note it down on your copy, as well?”

“Yes, Nara- _sama_ ,” Yūna answered softly, and Shikamaru looked up at her with such a heated gaze that it made her twitch in her seat. His expression was still as impassive as ever, but his eyes said another thing. It sent chills up her spine.

In her mind’s eye, she envisioned just sweeping all of the papers off of the table and crawling over it to kiss him— but him addressing her by her name shook her from her fantasy. She bit her bottom lip and subtly used the collar of her _shinobi_ outfit to fan herself. It wasn’t overly tight— being a deep blue _kimono_ that was cut off a few inches above her knees, that was paired off with a lilac obi around her waist that held some weapons, and had a small pouch strapped to the back of it.

“I’m sorry, Nara- _sama_. Could you repeat that?” Yūna asked with a quirked eyebrow. 

Shikamaru hated repeating himself— most of it having to do with the fact that it took up too much effort— but his lips thinned out into a tight line, and his irritation flared. It was as if his lust was doused with a cup of ice-cold water; it subdued the flames, but only for a few seconds.

From the corner of his eye, Shikamaru caught sight of Tsujiri lifting a hand up to cover the smile that was on his face, while Ino and Chōji exchanged knowing smirks.

 _Great. Ino and Chōji will tease me even more over this._ The raven-haired nin thought with a scowl. He was not looking forward to the end of this meeting, because he was sure that he was going to endure another round of ribbing from his teammates. They made sure to tease him relentlessly when they saw Yūna’s lipstick mark on his neck— which he had stupidly forgotten to wipe off— yesterday. Basically, he had been walking around the Ueno compound for a good hour with that mark practically begging for attention.

That explained the hushed whispers and the subdued giggles from some of the clan members. And it also explained the deep bows that he had received from almost everyone yesterday. 

Almost four hours had passed before they got through all of the paperwork for both the Union contract, as well as the business contract that Shikamaru had revised the night before. All of them had signed the documents, and shook on the agreements. And everything had been going well, until a low grumbling sound made everyone look over at Yūna.

The raven-haired girl looked absolutely mortified. A blush colored her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears, and Shikamaru had to bite back a smile at how **adorable** she looked.

“I can go and ask the cooks to prepare a late lunch, if you wish, Yūna- _sama_ , or we can go into town and eat at Yukio- _san_ ’s restaurant,” Tsujiri suggested quickly, not bothering to hide his grin.

 

***

 

“And then I tried to use chamomile leaves, and it **worked** on my skin, but I accidentally brushed up against some poison oak leaves and broke out in a rash. So it was a win-lose situation. Now I just soak in some rose-water— around twice a month, if I’m not on a mission. Maintaining our skin is such a burden.” Yūna narrated with a grin, giggling with Ino when the blonde made eye contact with her. 

Both of them were getting along greatly, judging by the way they traded beauty secrets and anecdotes while on their way into town. Shikamaru, however, kept sending furtive looks at the pair— since he was starting to get tired of their girly giggles piercing the air every so often. It wasn’t because he was feeling so frustrated at the tempting view that Yūna was providing him with. Not at all.

 **Did she really have to walk in front of him? And did the hem of her skirt have to tease him so badly with every step she took?** And his frustration had started all because he just had to go and kiss her— and she had to go and do a pseudo blowjob on his thumb. _Such a bothersome woman_. He thought to himself.

On either side of Shikamaru, Chōji and Tsujiri were having a conversation about some of the local delicacies in _Tsuki_ , and which ones they had already eaten at the main house. He tried to contribute to the conversation— he really did— but his attention was just too focused on Yūna’s thighs to care about _nato_ at that point.

He wasn’t one to let his lust cloud his thoughts, but this was different. He wanted Yūna. **Bad**. He wanted to fuck her yet, at the same time, he wanted to shut her up because she was just too much.

A collective squeal of _‘Yūna-hime’_ made Shikamaru look up from where his eyes had been flitting to and from every so often, just in time to see a group of four children run up to her and wrap her up in a group hug. He expected her to balk and gently brush them away, since all of them were dirty from playing outside, but his breath got caught in his throat when he saw the sincerely sweet smile on her face.

Yūna made a pointing gesture with her right hand and, from what Shikamaru saw, she focused some of her chakra to the tip of her index finger before gently touching the childrens’ foreheads. His face must have shown his curiosity— or Chōji must have asked what she was doing— because Tsujiri was suddenly explaining the situation.

“It’s an ability of the _mugen_ that only the head family members can do. They aren’t named the way they are just for fun— their names are specifically chosen for their meanings. The males in the head family all have names that have meanings relating to the sun, while the women are named after the moon. Only the most advanced chakra users can use the ability without ending up in the hospital, though. Yūna- _hime_ was the first of her siblings to use the technique.”

Eerie yellow eyes flashed in Shikamaru’s mind, and he had to blink twice when he saw the same eerie eyes on Yūna— who was grinning at them. “And the first one to end up in the hospital for three days because of chakra depletion. All because of a bet with Aki- _nii_. A really dumb move, now that I think about it.”

She turned back to the children, who were now gushing about Ino’s looks— which the blonde absolutely adored (and soaked up).

“What exactly does that do? Nothing happened with the children, though?” Chōji asked through a mouthful of potato chips.

Shikamaru turned to look from his friend, then back over to Tsujiri— who had a proud expression on his face as he regarded Yūna. It was obvious that he was very fond of the woman, but in a mentor-mentee sort of way. That, oddly, made Shikamaru feel at ease. He didn’t even want to question **why** the thought put him at ease.

“Yūna means moon around these parts, and with the moon comes sleep and dreams, right? So Yūna- _hime_ ’s ability is to give people dreams… or nightmares, when they go to sleep. While Akio- _denka_ ’s, Akira- _hiko_ ’s, Haru- _hiko_ ’s, and Hisaki- _hiko_ ’s ability is to remove all memory of any dream or subconscious thought— kind of like how the rising of the sun wakes people up to reality.” Tsujiri explained with his ever-present smile. It seemed that the man was always smiling; which made him look younger than his 30 years.

“So she’s like the princess of sleep,” Chōji commented with a pensive nod. Then, he grinned over at Shikamaru. “She sounds perfect for you, Shikamaru.”

A blush warmed the Nara’s cheeks, and he huffed out a sigh as he ignored the teasing remark from his friend. He didn’t even want to dwell on that. If he could just spend the rest of his life as unattached as possible, then that was what he would do. He was happy with being a bachelor, thank you very much.

In front of the men, Ino regarded Yūna with a quirked eyebrow once she saw the blush that was tinting the woman’s cheeks. She looked back at Shikamaru and saw the same tinge coloring his own cheeks— and it didn’t take long for her to put two and two together. She was already trying to devise a plan to bring those two together; she just had to force Chōji into helping her.

With one last deep bow and words of thanks, the children bounded off towards their spot, as they were all telling Yūna about. And with one last wave at the children, Yūna began walking towards their prior destination.

Unfortunately, it took a lot longer for them to reach Yukio’s restaurant than it would have if it were just Tsujiri with the Konoha nin. They were stopped by almost every merchant they came across, and were offered so many free items all because Yūna was with them. Of course, Yūna gracefully refused the offers, but the merchants all insisted— and promised to bring the items to the Ueno compound. Shikamaru was close to complaining about all the interruptions, but he held his tongue when he saw the gentle and indulgent smile on the Ueno heiress’s face.

She was having fun talking to her village’s people, even though it was obvious from her pale lips that she was way past famished already. Yet, instead of waving them off, Yūna still stopped and talked to them— asking about some of their family members by name, and asking about their health in general. With some people, she did her dream _jutsu_ ability— but Shikamaru noted that she sometimes used one finger or two fingers. He would have to look into that later.

“I’m so sorry, it’s just been so long since I last took a walk around town,” Yūna apologized softly as their group approached a 2-storey building. Tsujiri walked ahead of the group and opened the _shoji_ that served as the main entrance.

“No, it’s really fine. But you look a bit pale, are you alright?” Ino asked with a twinge of worry twisting her features.

Yūna smiled and nodded, though it looked more like her head had lolled. “I’m fine, it’s just my chakra. Doing that _jutsu_ uses a lot of chakra, but it’s nice to help the villagers every once in a while.”

Somehow, Shikamaru didn’t completely believe her reasoning. There was something else that she wasn’t saying, but he didn’t want to out her to everyone, so he stayed quiet as he continued to observe her.

She wasn’t even five steps into the restaurant when a man _shunshin_ -ed in front of her and wrapped an arm around her waist. A surprised giggle escaped the Ueno girl’s lips, but she didn’t fight her assailant— instead, she put her hands on the man’s broad shoulders and leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek, when he turned his head and caught her lips with his.

Irritation bubbled up within Shikamaru, and he averted his gaze from the couple when he saw Yūna smile into the kiss. Now, he felt so stupid for dwelling on their kiss earlier— when she was so free with giving her affections to people.

“Hello, my love,” the brunet greeted with a devilish grin. His blue eyes were practically glinting with mischievous intent as he let his gaze flicker from the woman in his arms, and to the raven-haired Konoha nin behind her. The Konoha nin was looking elsewhere, but Yukio could tell by the tense way he held his shoulders that his nonchalance was forced. “You’re still as beautiful as ever. The most beautiful lady in the Land of Fire.”

To everyone’s surprise— aside from Yukio, Yūna guffawed at the compliment as she cupped the brunet’s cheeks and pinched them. “You’re still such a flirt, Yukio. I’ve missed having you around.”

“And whose fault is that? I miss having you in my bed, Yūna,” Yukio answered pointedly, then shot a covert glance at the spiky-haired nin to gauge his reaction.

Shikamaru tensed up at the words from the man’s mouth, as did Ino and Chōji, but he was sure that he was the only one that felt the rolling churn of anger, shame, and irritation bubbling up inside.

“Well, I don’t miss being in your bed. You were lousy at pillowtalk,” the raven-haired woman scoffed with a roll of her eyes, then flitted away from the brunet. She turned towards the Konoha nin, whom were all looking at her as if she really was a promiscuous woman of the night, and she grinned. “I apologize for that. This is Ishida Yukio— my childhood friend and former teammate.”

“And her former fiancé,” Yukio cut in with a grin, and Yūna rolled her eyes at that.

The Nara clan head didn’t know what burned more: to see Yūna looking so bright and energetic after her kiss with that Yukio character, or to hear her exploits with him and to know that they used to be engaged. His fingers twitched with barely-contained anger, and he narrowed his eyes at the grinning Yukio.

Ino sent her friend a worried glance, before adopting a small, hesitant smile onto her face. Maybe she was wrong about Yūna’s feelings for Shikamaru, after all. It wouldn’t be the first time that she was wrong about something that concerned romantic feelings.

“That wasn’t an official engagement, so no, we were **not** engaged, Yukio. We only **pretended** to be engaged for a mission,” Yūna quipped, then reached up and flicked the tip of her friend’s nose. “Now please, feed us before we all keel over from hunger.”

“Hey, where’s Tsujiri- _san_?” Chōji piped up after noticing the other man’s absence. All of them looked towards the closed door, and both Yūna and Yukio chuckled.

“Tsujiri recently got married to this one’s sister, so Ami- _nii_ probably got to him first,” the Ueno heiress explained with a wry smile, then ushered the group over to a table that Yukio was dragging her by the sleeve to. “I guess we won’t see him until later. I’ll be your guide for today, then.”

The group of four all sat down around the table— with Shikamaru sitting right beside Yūna— while Yukio told them that he would take care of their meal, so they didn’t need to see the menu. It was extremely silent between all of them, until Yūna caught sight of the questioning glances that Ino and Chōji kept trading right across from her.

“You can ask me about it, if you’re curious about mine and Yukio’s relationship.” She grinned warmly, and felt some of the tension melt away from those two. From beside her, though, Shikamaru remained stiff and continued his attempt to ignore her. She tried to be unperturbed by it, but the fact that he was even **trying** to ignore her grated at her nerves.

“You said that you two are just friends, but… well, in Konoha…friends don’t just kiss their friends on the mouth,” Ino began hesitantly, then added with a shrug, “I mean, if it’s normal for you guys then…”

Yūna pondered the question for a few seconds before answering. “Well… it’s not normal for friends to kiss friends on the mouth here in _Tsuki_ , but… how do I explain it without sounding weird? _Ah_ , Yukio has the ability to share his chakra— but only through extensive physical contact.” She let the statement hang in the air for a few seconds, the continued, “And he always does that when he sees that I’ve used up too much of my reserves. Which would explain how I look fine right now— when earlier I know that I must have looked pale and really tired.”

She didn’t know why she felt the need to explain further, but she did— all while letting her gaze flicker to Shikamaru every once in a while. “Yukio is just a friend; more like one of my brothers, really. And all his talk about missing me in his bed was because I would often sleep here after missions, because… well, the house felt so cold and lonely without my father or brothers around. Especially during the war.”

“Come to think of it, I only saw you twice during the war,” Chōji commented.

“I was left to stay here and act as the head of the family most of the time.” Yūna sighed, a little wistful at the memory of all those sleepless nights she spent planning evacuation strategies and backup plans for all of her backup plans for all of their businesses.

It was so difficult, but she had managed. She didn’t know how her father had done it, along with holding a position of power in the village. “And most of the missions that I did for the Alliance were mostly information gathering. I believe that I worked under two of Konoha’s greatest minds as-”

Shikamaru sat upright and was looking at Yūna with a more alert expression on his face. His heart was beating quicker in his chest, but he couldn’t calm it down because he **knew** that she was talking about his father. He quickly pieced her incognito persona with her normal persona, and resisted the urge to **kiss** her again. “ _Hotaru_.”

To say that Shikamaru had been impressed with the depth of _Hotaru_ ’s information gathering skills was an understatement. The nin’s reports were always so thorough and extremely detailed— down to the smallest tidbit of fact. He and his father really appreciated the undercover nin’s reports, because it didn’t require them to put in too much effort into understanding the report. 

Of course, he didn’t know that it was her— because _Hotaru_ always wore a mask. The only distinct feature that he could remember seeing on the nin’s person was the same golden crescent moon hair ornament that held her hair up in a ponytail. It was the same one that Yūna was wearing at that moment.

The compliment from earlier completely flew over Shikamaru’s head, so a scowl marred his features when Yūna spoke once more. All the excitement thrumming in his veins halted, and his teammates chuckled under their breath at the sight of the two in another spat. “It took you this long to figure that out? I thought you would know the moment that you saw me, Nara-


	5. 143 - 5

Shikamaru was torn between strangling the damn woman, or pinning her to the nearest surface and fucking her until all she could do was moan and cry his name in pleasure. He preferred the latter, but that didn’t seem very likely to be happening anytime soon.

He didn’t know **what** exactly attracted him to her, but it was there and it was wreaking havoc on his mind and body. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to get whiplash from the constant switch of his emotions from lust to irritation, and vice versa. 

It was their third and last day in _Tsukigakure_ , and he was thankful that he was going home tomorrow morning. He was going to get to sleep in his own bed, see his own village, and probably get to squeeze in a nap on his favorite cloud-watching hill. His pleasant thoughts ground to a halt, though, when Yūna gracefully rested her chopsticks against their small perch, and swallowed the food in her mouth before talking to Ino once more. 

“What kind of clothes should I pack? Is it hot around this time of the year? And should I pack any _kimono_ s? Should I bring Taro with me? I’ll be gone for a **month** ; he’s self-sufficient, but I’ll miss him,” the raven-haired woman prattled on at the speed of light. Her tone was so bright and excited that he didn’t have it in him to burst her bubble. He found her as something bothersome, but he wasn’t going to be a dick about it.

“Taro? Who’s Taro?” Chōji asked through a mouthful of their dinner; which all three Konoha nin had to admit was delicious, as all of their meals in _Tsukigakure_ were. The village really gave a new meaning to hospitality.

“Well… Taro is my… companion? He’s not exactly a pet, but more of a guide.” Yūna explained with a pondering expression on her face. She couldn’t give too much away about her clan’s forest; unlike she did with Shikamaru. That was different, because that was business. This was just her building new friendships.

“You’re going to be busy for an entire month. Who’s going to take care of him while you’re observing the village?” Shikamaru drawled, turning his lazy gaze up at Yūna and letting it rest there.

She frowned, then quirked an eyebrow at him. “Why? Do you plan on keeping me busy even at night, Nara- _sama_?”

The double meaning didn’t sink in Yūna’s mind until she saw the blush that colored Shikamaru’s cheeks. She closed her eyes and ducked her head to hide her rapidly reddening face. With anyone else, she wielded her quick wit and sharp tongue flawlessly— but it was like her brain ceased functioning properly whenever she was talking to Shikamaru. Ever since their kiss from that morning, she had done nothing but spew double entendre after double entendre, and insults at him.

Yukio’s kiss didn’t even affect her that way, and she had to admit that he was one of the most handsome men in the Land of Fire. But Shikamaru’s kiss, on the other hand…

And, for once, Shikamaru decided to fight her words with his own. He was done letting her double meanings slide off his back. He was frustrated and he wanted her to give her a taste of her own medicine. “If you’re not crying about being too tired, then yes. I plan on working you late into the night, Ueno- _san_.”

Yūna had to swallow past the lump that suddenly formed in her throat, and she narrowed her eyes at the raven-haired male that sat adjacent to her at the dinner table. A telltale heat was building between her legs, and she pressed her legs together to alleviate some of the lust she felt. “Me? You should be more concerned about **your** capacity, Nara- _sama_. I can work all night if you want, but it’s a matter of keeping me interested enough to stay awake. **Can you** , Nara- _sama_? Not bore me to death, that is.”

Grey eyes stared intently into brown ones— both pairs glazed over with lust that was almost palpable in the room. Shikamaru clenched his hands into fists, and fought the urge to give in to his baser instincts and take her up on her challenge. “I’m sure that I can keep you interested. So interested that you’ll be **begging** to learn more.”

“If you two are done with your weird foreplay,” Ino piped up with a forced laugh. She and Chōji were obviously getting uncomfortable with the blatant sexual tension in the room, and Yūna chose that moment to excuse herself. But not without apologizing to Ino and Chōji about leaving early, though.

Not once did she look back at Shikamaru, even though she wanted nothing more than to straddle his lap and kiss him senseless. Just to shut him up. He already knew how to get under her skin so effortlessly, it was pathetic.

 

***

 

After stewing in her room for a good hour and a half, irately packing her clothes and supplies into three carrying scrolls, Yūna eventually decided that a soak in the _onsen_ right outside her room would help her get her mind off of Nara Shikamaru and the tension that seemed to do nothing but escalate between them. 

Without thinking twice about it, Yūna stepped into her private bathroom and quickly showered before wrapping a towel around her body and padding over to the _shoji_ that led to the bath that she and her brothers had begged their parents to build for them when they were younger. While other clans put importance to other things such as reading and whatnot to help them relax, the Ueno siblings put that importance towards pampering themselves with lavish skincare treatments, massages, and the like.

Their parents realized their children’s shared appreciation for the art of relaxation, and had agreed to have an _onsen_ built at their wing of the house— but that was when they were children and had no qualms about sharing a bath with their sister. When her brothers got older, they moved to another wing of the house, and had another _onsen_ built for them to share— which left the old one to Yūna and the few guests that stayed in the East Wing of the house with her.

The raven-haired woman slid the door open, and stepped out towards the steps leading into the bath, dropping her towel without second thought. She looked around the courtyard-styled area, then stifled a scream when she saw Shikamaru standing frozen in front of another set of doors that led to his temporary room. His hair was damp and was out of its customary spiky ponytail, and he just looked so sexy that Yūna stood there dumbly for five seconds until she realized that she was stark naked.

Immediately, she dashed into the water and sank down so that her body was partially obstructed by the steam and the water. Her face was so hot that she had to cup her cheeks to hide the telltale sign of her shame.

She chanced another look at Shikamaru and had to bite down on her bottom lip when she saw his steadily rising erection that was making a tent with the towel wrapped around his waist. He still stood frozen where she had seen him earlier, but his expression had changed from shocked to angry— until he moved towards the edge of the _onsen_ and slowly walked into the bath, towel and all. **Towards her**.

His gaze held hers the entire time, not faltering even once, until he was a few feet away from her. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she could feel it in her ears, but she didn’t move. She didn’t even flinch. “I’m giving you five seconds to walk away. If you don’t want me to fuck you, Yūna, then you should go now.”

Yūna didn’t move away. She couldn’t. She didn’t **want** to. However, she did rise up from her crouch— unabashed with putting her chest on display to him. “I...” Her gaze flickered from his eyes and down to his defined muscles. She wanted nothing more than to know what his body would feel like above her while he pounded into her. “I want you to fuck me, Nara- _sama_.”

“Good answer,” Shikamaru whispered huskily as he closed the distance between them, gently brushing her hands away from her flushed cheeks and cupping her face in his hands before slanting his lips over hers. He didn’t waste any time then, prying her lips open with his own and slipping his tongue in her mouth. She moaned against his lips— and he had to smirk when he felt her body practically melt against his.

Delicate and warm hands pressed against the Nara clan head’s abdomen, then slipped up his bare chest before resting against his shoulders. One hand drifted up against the side of his neck and gently toyed with the strands of hair at the nape of his neck.

A quiet moan rumbled against Yūna’s lips at that action, and she couldn’t help but smirk into the kiss as she grew bolder and completely delved her fingers through the soft strands. It didn’t take long after that for Shikamaru to pull her body flush against his and urged her to wrap her legs around his waist.

Of course, Yūna complied. She would have been crazy not to.

She could feel Shikamaru’s erection brushing against her entrance with every step he took towards the edge of the bath. He had pulled away from their kiss to catch his breath, and settled for peppering her skin with teasing kisses. His right, however, drifted closer towards her soaked entrance from the underside of her thigh— before delving inside to tease her. “Fuck. You’re so wet already.”

“All for you, Nara- _sama_ ,” the raven-haired woman answered with a breathless moan. She then bit down on her bottom lip when Shikamaru started pumping his finger in and out of her.

“I hate it when you call me that.” Shikamaru groused, but sank his finger deeper into his lover. “Especially in public. It makes me want to fuck that smart mouth of yours just to shut you up.”

“Then do it now, Nara- _sama_. I want to taste your cock.”

A groan escaped the Nara clan head’s pursed lips as he sat Yūna down on the ledge of the bath. He urged her to scoot back, as he leaned down between her parted legs and slung her calves over his shoulders. “Maybe later. If you can even move after I’m done fucking you.”

The filthy words sent another coil of heat rushing through Yūna’s already dripping core and, when her legs tried to close to alleviate some of the pressure she felt, Shikamaru gripped her thighs securely before licking a wet line up her slit. A breathless gasp escaped her parted lips, and she squirmed in his hold— but he didn’t let her go as he subjected her to the best oral sex of her life. 

Yūna was on the verge of cumming— with Shikamaru’s mouth sucking on her clit and his fingers curling inside her to stimulate her g-spot with every pumping motion of his hand— when the door to her room slammed open and a gaggle of manly shrieks of terror echoed in the courtyard.

Immediately, Yūna sat up and urged Shikamaru’s dream presence to get up as well. She materialized clothes of both of them as she glared at her brothers over her lover’s shoulder. All of them had their backs towards her now, and she pulled away from the confused Shikamaru before cupping his face in her hands and pressing one last kiss to his lips.

When they parted, she lifted her right hand and pressed her index and middle fingers against his forehead. He wouldn’t remember the last bit of his dream, which made her thankful for all the extra hours that she put into training her _mugen_ to have the same ability as her brothers’.

It wasn’t a secret among the four of them that Yūna was the most gifted out of all the people in their clan, which was the reason why all of them wanted her to stay and become the clan head. Since, if she accepted the title, they would be sure that she would never be used or abused by her future husband’s clan for her capabilities.

That, and they knew that she really was the best choice as clan head. With a few major attitude adjustments, she would be perfect for the job. Maybe less conniving, and more of a fair player.

“Didn’t we have an agreement specifically stating **not** to follow each other when we’re ‘dream walking’?” Yūna snapped as she removed their presence from Shikamaru’s not-so-innocent dream, and transferred all of them to their own dreamscape. Her entire face was warm with embarrassment, yet she held the glare that she pinned on each of her brothers.

They all had the decency to look sorry, at the least.

“This better be important-” The irate woman was cut off from her tirade by none other than Akira.

“We’re **sorry** for cutting in on your… frivolous activities with Shikamaru- _san_.” The eldest of the siblings paused to get the image of his sister with her hand tangled in his former division commander, while he did things to her, out of his head. He wished he could do the jutsu on himself— but he wasn’t that good with his chakra control. Not like Yūna was. “But we wanted to talk to you about who will be taking over for you while you’re gone.”  
  
That sounded reasonable enough to Yūna, so she settled for adopting an irate expression on her face as she sat down and motioned for her brothers to go ahead and talk.

 

***

 

When Shikamaru woke up, it was to a cold sweat and morning wood that just wouldn’t go away. His dream had been so vivid and lifelike that he could still feel his lips tingling from the heated scene that his mind had played for him while he was asleep. He was so tempted to just rub one out beneath his sheets, but he didn’t want to disrespect the Ueno clan like that— so a cold shower it was. 

Once he had put himself together enough to be considered decent, he set to work with tidying up the guest room that was lent to him. It was the same room that was right next to Yūna’s in his dream.

A low groan escaped his lips as he tried to banish the very graphic imagery from his mind and, thankfully, he managed to block them out by thinking of all the work that he had to catch up on once he was back in Konoha. 

“ _Oi_ , Shikamaru, it’s time for breakfast,” Chōji called from the hallway.

“Yeah, go ahead, I’ll be there in a minute,” the raven-haired male drawled as he fastened his weapons pouch to his waist, before giving the room another once-over and heading for the dining room where they usually had their breakfast.

“ _Ohayō_ ,” Shikamaru greeted quietly. He lifted a hand in a halfhearted greeting, only to stumble over his own two feet when he caught sight of Yūna taking a bite out of a strawberry. It was the single most erotic scene with food that he had ever witnessed. He didn’t even **think** that eating a piece of fruit could be that seductive.

From beside Yūna, Ino giggled and leaned over to whisper something in the other woman’s ear. It was too low for anyone other than them to hear, which frustrated Shikamaru— especially when Yūna made a show of licking her lips before biting down on her bottom lip. He tried his best to not look directly at her as he sat down— unfortunately— right in front of her.

“ _Ohayō_ , Nara- _sama_ ,” the Ueno heiress greeted warmly, which forced Shikamaru to look up at her and nod in acknowledgement. His eyes fell to her lips, before going back up to her grey irises. “I hope you slept well.” 

A catty smile played at the conniving woman’s lips, and Shikamaru just **knew** that she knew something. He just didn’t know what she knew, but she did— and he was willing to bet his clan’s entire fortune that she wouldn’t even hesitate to use it against him.

“I slept just fine, thank you. And you?”

“Oh yeah, amazing. Definitely breathtaking; one of the best nights of my life, Nara- _sama_.” 

Somehow, there was a tiny voice inside Shikamaru’s head that was asking if his dream had been real, but his rational mind won over the voice and refuted the questions with completely logical answers. If it was real, he wouldn’t have woken up in a cold sweat with the most stubborn erection ever.

He didn’t answer that— he didn’t even know **how** to answer that. And, thankfully, Chōji sensed the brewing tension and decided to cut in. “Who’s going to look after your clan while you’re gone, Yūna- _chan_?” 

 ** _YŪNA-CHAN?????_** Shikamaru’s mind practically screamed. He didn’t even know **when** his childhood friend had become so friendly with the Ueno heiress to be on a first name basis with her. 

“Yeah, Yūna! Is Tsujiri- _san_ taking over or…?” Ino piped up with a quirked eyebrow aimed at the woman beside her.

The lack of suffix baffled Shikamaru, and he didn’t dare question it out loud because that would have been rude to their host, no matter how much he was sure that him and her were way past politeness and basic social decorum. Still, his confusion was evident on his face— which made Yūna explain.

“I figured that Ueno- _san_ would be too formal, so I insisted on being called by my given name. After all, we’re all friends here, aren’t we, Nara- _sama_?” He wanted to shake his head and tell her that they **couldn’t** be friends— because no decent friend wanted to bend their friend over and fuck them into the next century, and no decent friend wanted to ram their dick down their friend’s throat just to shut them up.

“And… to answer your earlier question, Ino- _chan_ : my brother Akira is coming home later this evening and taking over. I just hope that he doesn’t do anything dumb like get engaged to his next ‘flavor of the month’.” Yūna chuckled, then shook her head. “I don’t condone being a man-whore, but it’s just so amusing when I kick them out of the house the morning after.”

Ino regarded her with wide eyes, and a faux scandalized smile on her face. “You’re just evil, Yūna.”

“You know you’d do it too, Ino,” Yūna answered with a sly grin of her own, then the two of them broke out into a fit of giggles.

Shikamaru could only look at Chōji, which made his friend shrug and shake his head. Both of them really didn’t get girls.

“Oh, before we leave, we should head over to that one store in town that sells the night cream and stock up on it. Of course, I’ll be bringing something else for the _Rokudaime_ , but I think that your friends will love it.” Yūna piped up excitedly, then she and Ino started making plans on what to get for all her friends back home.


	6. 143 - 6

The trip back to Konoha seemed to drag on much longer than the trip going to _Tsukigakure_ , but only for Shikamaru. He didn’t know if it was the humid air messing with him, or if it was the sight of Yūna right in front of him the whole way— but his breathing was heavier than usual, and his body felt unusually warmer. He wasn’t sick, or getting sick, he made sure of that already.

Once they got to the gates, Yūna reached behind her and straightened out the back of her outfit— making a show of groping her right butt cheek as she shot a backward glance at the Nara clan head. 

It took everything in Shikamaru to keep himself from dragging her to the nearest tree and fucking her against it. “ _Mendokusai_.”

Both Chōji and Ino noticed the exchange, but ignored it. As much as they had fun teasing Shikamaru, riling him up even more would make him want to keep his distance from Yūna. That wouldn’t work for what they had in mind to get those two together.

“Welcome back, Nara- _san_ , Yamanaka- _san_ , Akimichi- _san_ ,” the _genin_ stationed at the gates greeted with a wide grin, before his eyes fell on Yūna. His grin fell and he regarded her with a much more subdued smile. “I see you have a visitor with you.”

“She’s going to be under my care while she’s here. She’s _Tsukigakure_ ’s representative for the Union,” Shikamaru cut in with a lazy drawl. He sounded uninterested, which made Yūna smirk as she fished for her identification document scroll and the one that had her official summons from Konoha’s _Rokudaime_. 

The raven-haired girl walked forward, then held out the scrolls to the brunet _genin_. He accepted it with a nod, then read through Yūna’s scrolls. After a few seconds, he looked up and gave the Ueno heiress a grin. “Welcome to Konoha, Ueno- _san_. I’ll see you around.”

Yūna glanced over at where Shikamaru was standing a few feet away from her, and made sure that he could see when she winked at the brunet guard. “Oh, you definitely will.”

She had to smirk when she saw the Nara clan head’s jaw clench.

With that, their group walked into Konoha— with Ino snickering as she fell into step beside her new friend. “That poor man.”

“What? Who’s to say that he won’t see me around?” Yūna asked with a laugh, then turned to look at Shikamaru who was trudging behind her. “Nara- _sama_ , will we see Hatake- _sama_ first, or do I have time to clean up?”

That question made the Nara’s eyebrows raise in question. He had gone to see the present and past Kages in infinitely worse states than his current one, and it was the first time that he was ever asked such a trivial question. His mind kept asking how she could even think about that when she still looked well put-together. Of course, he didn’t know how to answer that question, as well. “I…”

Ino seemed to take pity on him, and looped an arm through Yūna’s. She gave the other woman a sad smile. “You still look fine, Yūna.”

At that, the raven-haired girl pursed her lips and nodded hesitantly. It went against her upbringing to see anyone important in less than her best state, but she couldn’t exactly ask her new companions to wait while she freshened up. She was raised to have impeccable manners, but that didn’t mean that she was entirely unreasonable.

However, Shikamaru could see the torn expression on her face and sighed. “My house is near, so you can… clean up there.”

“It **is** a bit too hot. A shower sounds nice.” Chōji piped up, glancing up at the clear sky before popping a few potato chips in his mouth.

Reluctantly, Shikamaru nodded. “Let’s all meet up in front of the Hokage tower in an hour. Ueno- _san_ , you’re with me. Since I’m responsible for you while you’re here.”

 

***

 

“Nara- _sama_ ,” Yūna called from beside Shikamaru. The man seemed to jolt awake from his deep thoughts, then turned to look at her with a quiet _‘hm?’_  

Grey eyes paused on Shikamaru’s lips, before averting themselves to the bustling road ahead. Yūna didn’t have a problem with tamping her unsteady feelings down when Ino and Chōji were present, but it was another story when it was just her and Shikamaru. It was easy to mask her flustered emotions with cool, seductive provocation when she had eyes on her, after all.

It made it easier to pretend that she wasn’t dangerously attracted to the current head of the Nara clan. Dangerous, because she didn’t have it in her plans to settle down; not until she was 30 and done with her own dreams and aspirations.

But now, without his teammates’ presence as a buffer between them, her heart started to flutter wildly around in her chest. She was having a really hard time trying to think, if she were to be honest.

“What were you going to say?”

She wanted to tell him to repeat that, yet decided against it at the risk of being mocked. God forbid that Shikamaru **knew** that he affected her even more after that dream that she had shared with him. Though, he didn’t know that she had replaced his dream version of her with her actual self.

Visions of the familiar _onsen_ played in Yūna’s mind. She wanted to slip her hand between her legs to relieve the sudden heat that made her core uncomfortably warm with arousal, but she clenched her hands at her sides and held them there. She was **not** going to make a fool of herself, no matter how much the memory of Shikamaru’s tongue playing with her clit made her want to beg him to finish what he had started in his dream. 

No matter how hard she tried, her gaze drifted back to the man at her side. She couldn’t help but send lingering, appreciative looks at his lips— before drifting up to the tip of his nose. Before Shikamaru, she had never known that having her pussy eaten out could be **mind-blowing**. And that was only in his dream; what more if he were to do it in person?

Surely, she would implode with the sensory overload.

“Take a picture, why don’t you?” Shikamaru groused. His lips were set into a tight line that showed his displeasure, and Yūna had to scowl back at him.

She didn’t know what his problem was. Hell, she wasn’t even doing **anything**. Whether she did something or did nothing, he always scowled at her. There was just no winning with him. Still, returning his irritation with her own was way easier than dwelling on her **feelings**. Just the thought of going back down that path made her cringe. “Yeah, I needed something to scare the rats away. With that face? Your picture would do just fine.”

Shikamaru’s expression darkened at that, and his eyes narrowed as his irritation increased ten-fold. He could take a few catty comebacks from Ino or any of his other friends, but when it came from the conniving woman beside him… he just wanted to shut her up. Preferably with his cock in her mouth, or with his lips on hers. Either option sounded fine to him, but he’d be damned if he forced another kiss on her.

He was sure that his mother would wring him alive if she knew what he had done a few days before. To lose his cool like that was shameful and so beneath him, but a tiny part of him didn’t regret kissing Yūna. In fact, that part wanted another taste, but only if **she** would be the one to initiate things.

“Then I guess you’re going to love staying with me, since my house will be rat-free, what with this face and all.” The raven-haired man scoffed, then shook his head as he buried his hands in his pants’ pockets.

Accepting the barb aimed at him was almost worth it when he saw the disbelief on the she-demon’s face. Shikamaru’s lips quirked up into a smug smirk as Yūna tried to wrap her head around what he had just said.

“Stay? With you? I never agreed to such a thing.” She wouldn’t have been protesting so much if it weren’t for all the alarm bells ringing in her head— telling her just how bad of an idea that was.

“Well, you are, so stop being such a drag.”

“No. Just no. I need my own space.” _Somewhere far away from **you**. _The unspoken words hung between them, but Yūna refused to continue.

“And you will. There’s plenty of space in the Nara compound.” Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow at the woman next to him, which made her balk. He almost chuckled. **Almost**. “It’s not as nice as the Ueno compound, but it’s the least we could do after you accepted us **so** **graciously** into your home.”

“That was only three days. You don’t **have** to-”

 

“But I **insist**.” He didn’t even know **why** he was pressing the issue when he knew that he would regret his decision to keep her so close— since they were already going to work closely together because of Union business. Of course the village had a building that was reserved for diplomats and other important guests, and a room was already prepared for her there, but he couldn’t keep from running his troublesome mouth.

Whether it was to simply annoy her or if it was some repressed part of him trying to claw its way to the surface, he didn’t know. Before Yūna, he didn’t even think that he had enough motivation to purposely annoy someone.

That woman was only proving herself to be more and more troublesome as time went on.

An unsettling silence hung between the two of them— with nothing but their light footfalls and the faint bustle of activity going on around them, punctuating just how quiet both of them had become. Shikamaru was actually disturbed at how the unsettling feeling of guilt coiled in his stomach. He didn’t even say anything bad.

Brown eyes subtly glanced to the side, in an attempt to gauge what had happened. Unfortunately, Shikamaru couldn’t interpret the look on Yūna’s face. It was a mix between annoyance and resignation. Then again, she always looked annoyed at something, because of the way her almond-shaped eyes were slightly tilted up at the corners. It didn’t help that she would always squint her eyes and furrow her brows whenever a light source illuminated her face.

Thankfully, he was spared from the tense silence when he spotted the fenced off bounds of his clan’s compound. It gave **him** something to talk about. Which was a miracle in itself, because Shikamaru wasn’t one to put effort into anything that was trivial. “Union meetings are held once a month in different villages but, while you’re here, we can discuss your observations and suggestions at the main house. Unless you’d prefer to talk at the Hokage tower.”

“Ah,” Yūna scoffed. “I’m surprised that I get a say now. I figured you’d just **insist** on it. Well, I don’t want to be in your way since you have everything mapped out. May I know where you would like me to sleep as well, and in what position, Nara- _sama_? I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

The words just kept flowing from the woman’s mouth, which made Shikamaru uncomfortable and irate at the same time. If there was ever to be an award for the most complex woman in existence, the Ueno heiress would win it— hands down.

“In my bed. Preferably on top of me,” Shikamaru muttered heatedly. He hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but Yūna just had a way of making him lose his self-control. Years of avoiding all conflict with the opposite sex, down the drain in the four days they’ve known each other.

The Nara man stopped walking then, licking his suddenly dry lips and narrowing his eyes at the woman who had kept walking a few feet ahead of him. She realized that he had stopped, and froze in her tracks as well— then cast a scathing glare at him over her shoulder.

He had to admit that that was **not** his most glorious moment, but he didn’t think that it would warrant such a reaction from her. Hell, it surprised him because **she** was the one who had started this tension between them. Had he been wrong to assume that she wanted the same thing as him, when she had basically given his thumb a blowjob?

They stood there— gazes clashing— with their bodies quietly humming with the familiar, warm undercurrent of lust. The tension was so thick between them that people were giving them a **really** wide berth. If only everyone knew that they wanted to fuck, and **not** murder each other, people wouldn’t be crossing the street just to walk around them.

Yūna’s heart was pounding so hard in her chest. On one hand, she wanted to whet her sexual appetite and just give in to her lust but, at the same time, she wanted to stay far away from Shikamaru. Something inside her just knew that getting involved with him would be messy. It would involve feelings— whether it would be fondness or something deeper. She didn’t have time for that.

She wasn’t going to tie herself down to someone and put her dreams on hold for the nth time. She was done being selfless.

But the thought of fucking Shikamaru… **it was too tempting**. It was **selfish**. It made her want to say yes.

However, she wasn’t dumb. “In your dreams, Nara.”

With that, Yūna walked away from him— head held high and back ramrod straight; a perfect tell of her refined upbringing. Shikamaru was sure at that moment that he should stay far away from the conniving woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyy. Sorry it took so long to update. I was busy with a few things, like getting my IELTS result and having my friend over for a week.  
> On to my IELTS result, I got an 8.0 overall score. Which is good? I was aiming higher, but it is what it is. Basically, my scoresheet was: Listening: 9.0, Reading: 8.5, Writing: 7.5 (I might have gone overboard with this), and Speaking: 7.0. I literally have no clue what happened with my speaking test. I even had fun with my examiner. Oh well.
> 
> TL;DR: I passed my IELTS exam, my friend stayed over. I was busy, but I'm back now. Thank you so much for still reading this story. <3


	7. 143 - 7

Yūna knew that she shouldn’t do it, but the temptation was just too much to pass up. If it meant that she would be subjected to Shikamaru’s talented mouth like she had been before, then she would gladly suffer the consequences of using her _kekkei genkai_ again.

It was harmless fun; a means to an end, so she fitfully settled beneath the soft blankets on the futon that she had laid out before her shower earlier.

Both Shikamaru and Yūna tried to stay away from each other when they went to see the _Rokudaime_ , and it was a fact that Ino and Chōji had picked up on the moment that they saw the pair. It made the blonde and brunet side-eye each other with knowing smiles on their lips.

 

***

 

Once the Ueno heiress opened her eyes, she was inside the labyrinthine hall that served as the central area to start dream walking. Doors lined either side of the aisle that she had woken up at, and Yūna had to chuckle when she saw her brother Akira’s telltale baby pink footprints leading to a room that had the name _Ishihara Makoto_ written on the door.

She walked forward and paid no mind to the trail of glittery silver footprints that she was leaving behind. If it were up to her, she would change it to a dark blue to make it hard to see against the black surroundings, but they didn’t get to choose what color their trail marks were going to be.

Finally, after walking for a good few minutes, Yūna reached her destination: Shikamaru’s dreamscape.

Unabashed, she reached out and opened the black door in front of her. It was a wonder how they could see so well in this place, when she and all the others who had the _mugen_ all had poor eyesight. They had tried everything to help them correct their vision, but not even prescription glasses worked.

Their eyesight wasn’t so bad that it hindered their day to day activities, but it was just annoying at most. However, when they used their _kekkei genkai_ , everything came into sharp focus— which had tempted her and her brothers to just use it all the time; and they would have, if it didn’t drain their chakra reserves after ten hours of continuous use.

Yūna quirked an eyebrow when the dreamscape was set up as Shikamaru’s house. It was as immaculate as it was in real life— which was Nara Yoshino’s handiwork. Even though the tour and the explanations were curt earlier, Yūna listened intently and silently memorized the layout of the home. It wasn’t as big as her family’s home, but it was way more welcoming.

A motherly touch really brought out the warmth in a home. She would never admit it aloud, but she was always disappointed whenever she would redecorate the house, only to have it still feel cold and sterile. It wasn’t like that when her mother and younger, twin brothers were alive.

“Fuck.” She was pulled away from her melancholy thoughts when she heard the quiet moan that followed the breathy curse.

Grey eyes widened in surprise, before glazing over with lust at the sight in front of them. Shikamaru was leaning against one of the living room walls, with his eyes closed and head thrown back in pleasure. His right leg was propped up, while his left leg was resting on the floor— slightly bent at the knee.

But what made Yūna’s mouth go dry, though, was seeing him with his right hand wrapped around his cock. It was pumping up and down at a steady pace, and quiet gasps left the Nara’s slightly parted lips every so often.

“Fucking hell.” A quiet moan. “Fuck. Fuck.” A breathy exhale. “Yūna.”

Warmth engulfed the woman’s body from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. It was like a fire was lit inside her, and she found herself quietly sauntering towards the fully-clothed Shikamaru.

The raven-haired male almost cried out in shock— and mortification— when he felt a familiar presence approach him. He tried to tuck his erection back inside his pants, but was frozen in place when Yūna got down on her knees in front of him. She was so close that he could smell his own shampoo on her. Her gaze was lust-filled, and her cheeks were flushed as she leaned forward and placed her hands on his thighs for support.

Her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip. “Let me take care of that for you, Nara- _sama_.”

Before Shikamaru’s dream self could protest, Yūna let the fingers on her right hand drift up his thigh before wrapping them around his erection. The man beneath her moaned at the contact, before screwing his eyes shut and pursing his lips into a tight line.

“Shikamaru,” she called softly, and the Nara’s eyes opened to focus on her. “Watch.”

She planted a fleeting kiss against his lips, before scooting back a bit so she could wrap her mouth around Shikamaru’s cock. His eyes never left hers as she took him in her mouth— even as he was reduced to quiet gasps and throaty moans. She bobbed her head up and down on him, making sure to use her tongue to play with the head of his dick.

The Nara clan head’s body tensed up beneath her, and she was suddenly being pulled away from his cock— only to end up straddling his lap. His erection brushed up against her bare cunt, which caused her to smirk as she reached down and rubbed the head of his cock against her wet slit.

“Please fuck me, Nara- _sama_ ,” Yūna pleaded softly. “I want you to fill me up with your cum. I’m yours to play with.”

Something seemed to snap inside the Konoha nin, and his grip on either side of her waist tightened. Before Yūna could comprehend it, Shikamaru’s tongue was in her mouth as she used the head of his dick to rub her clit.

“Such a troublesome woman,” he grunted against her lips, then thunked his head back against the wall when Yūna dipped the head of his cock inside her. His expression was twisted with pleasure; lips slightly parted, eyes closed tightly, brows furrowed, and cheeks warm with a blush. He looked so damn fuckable.

“Not so troublesome now, am I?” The raven-haired woman asked with a slightly smug tone. She couldn’t help it; getting one over him was just too nice of a feeling to pass up.

Yūna leaned forward, about to brush her lips against Shikamaru’s, when he disappeared. Just literally disappeared from under her. The irate groan that left her lips was so menacing that the lights in the Nara man’s dreamscape flickered, before going back to their illuminated state.

It was either Shikamaru had woken up on his own accord, or he was woken up— those two were the only possible reasons for his dream persona to just disintegrate liked that.

And so, with a click of her tongue, she willed herself out of the _mugen_ ’s realm.

_I didn’t even get to feel his mouth on me. Damn it._

 

***

 

“Why didn’t you tell me that you got engaged to an Ueno? Since when did you start seeing her? Did you think that it wasn’t important for **your own mother** to meet the girl that you’re marrying? What did her clan even say when you two eloped?” The female voice was hushed but seething with anger, which had Yūna awkwardly biting her bottom lip as she hovered a few feet away from the entrance to the kitchen.

Her brain was telling her to hightail it before anyone could sense her presence, but it took too long for her body to respond to her flight instinct, because Shikamaru’s voice was calling out to her. Maybe it was just her, but he seemed to be on edge— scared, even.

Part of her still wanted to run, but a bigger part wanted to see the woman who was capable of reducing the **_brave and mighty_** Nara Shikamaru to a jittery mess of nerves. She was guessing that the woman in there had to have been his mother— Nara Yoshino— whom she had yet to meet, since she was out yesterday.

“ _Ohayō gozaimasu_ ,” Yūna greeted softly as she gingerly stepped into the kitchen. Once she saw the Nara matriarch, she bowed deeply at the waist before rising up with a warm smile on her face. “Thank you for having me in your beautiful home, Nara- _sama_.”

It seemed as if all the fight left the older woman the moment that she saw that sweet smile on Yūna’s face. Partnered with that soft, lilting tone of hers, Shikamaru reckoned that she could make the coldest of men bow down at her feet. He, however, saw right through her deceptive front.

That didn’t mean that he was immune to her allure, though. It irritated and aroused him at the same time. The fact that she was so unabashedly conniving grated on his nerves. Normally, he wouldn’t care— but she was different. There was just something about her that told him that she wouldn’t hesitate to manipulate people if it would benefit her.

He didn’t doubt that she would use all of them if the need ever arose; which was why almost every action from her came across as irritating to him. He would never admit it, but the root cause of his own incensed feelings towards her was because she always managed to disorient him. Whether it was because of her looks, her attempts at teasing, or that frustrating way that she always pulled away from him when things were just about to get good, he didn’t know.

Did he want to know? _Yes. No. Maybe. Fuck._ _Mendokusai_.

“I do apologize, Nara- _sama_ , but I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation earlier. I’m deeply sorry for getting your son-” Yūna began softly; completely apologetic to the older woman.

“No, it’s alright. You can have him.” Nara Yoshino beamed, while both Yūna and Shikamaru frantically shook their heads.

“No, I- it’s not like that. We’re-” Shikamaru protested. He knew that it was a feeble attempt, but he couldn’t help but want to keep his mother from losing her mind and throwing a party for all of Konoha to attend.

The older woman held her right hand up and shook her head. “Happily engaged and very secretive! _Aiya_ , Shikamaru. You should have brought your fiancée home earlier.”

Both Yūna and Shikamaru traded glances— the former’s was alarmed, while the latter’s was resigned. The Nara male knew that there was no use in persuading his mother to believe that everything wasa ruse, and he didn’t even want to bother with something that was such a drag. He was sure that Yūna would do it, anyway.

“Nara- _sama_ ,” the younger woman began softly, adopting a sheepish smile on her face. “ _A-ano_ … I’m sorry, but Shikamaru and I…”

Hearing his name fall from her lips made the raven-haired male’s ears perk up. His mind was briefly thrown back to his dream from last night: of her asking him to watch her suck his dick. Inevitably, his body responded to the steamy visual that his memory provided. Sometimes it did pay to have such a good memory.

“It’s alright, Yūna- _chan_. I can call you that, right? Since we’re going to be family and all. You can even call me _okaa-san_ , if you wish.” Yoshino beamed, and the Ueno heiress was hit with an overwhelming sense of sadness when the older woman’s face briefly flickered to her own mother’s bright smile. Shikamaru’s mother seemed so happy to know that her son was getting married **to her** , and she didn’t have the heart to be the cause of the woman’s sadness.

Even though she would be **lying**.

Her own mother would always tell her how she wanted her to get married and have children someday, but she couldn’t hurt her mother by telling her the truth that she didn’t plan on settling down until she had fulfilled her dream. It was going to be a few years before she could do that, because to become the best herbalist in all of the nations was one gargantuan task.

“Uh, oh… yeah. Definitely… _okaa-san_.” If it wouldn’t look so stupid, she would have face-palmed as soon as the words left her mouth.

Shikamaru’s eyes widened, and he literally jumped up from his seat to round the corner of the table. He grabbed the raven-haired girl by the arm and proceeded to drag her out of the kitchen. They padded down the hallway, until they reached the living room— where Shikamaru proceeded to drag Yūna in with him, before shutting the _shoji_ behind them.

He was never so rough with women, but he had just witnessed her **lie** to his mother. His own mother. She was going to kill both of them once she found out that they were never engaged at all.

“What was that?” Shikamaru asked incredulously.

His eyes were wide, eyebrows quirked up in question, and his lips were set into a thin line that showed his displeasure. Yūna found that attractive, unfortunately.

“What was what?” She asked coyly.

The Nara just shook his head in response.

“You can use your words; you know?”

“You-” Shikamaru gritted out, then sighed as he forced his tone to be less hostile. He just wanted to wrap his hand around her throat and fuck that mouth so that she couldn’t be smart with him. Much like he was doing in his dream. “You just lied to my mother.”

“What was I supposed to say? She kept cutting me off!”

“The truth!?”

“Why didn’t you tell her, then? She’s **your** mother.”

“Well, I-” Shikamaru was about to answer, when he made the mistake of letting his gaze fall on her lips. Those plump, rosy lips that looked so good wrapped around his cock— and looked even better when they were parted in pleasure **because of** **him**. 

“You what? Expected me to do it? The rumors were right, you **are** lazy.”

He didn’t know why, but that comment from her made irritation bubble up inside him. He had long since accepted that fact— embraced it, even— but to hear her say it was another thing entirely.

It wasn’t like him to become so easily provoked but, before he could comprehend it, he found himself saying, “You’re such a drag.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Yūna answered with a defiant expression on her face. She even tilted her head to the side for added effect, and that made the man across from her move into action.

He had seized her by her cheeks, and was pressing his lips flush against hers. Yūna tried to fight it at first by remaining stiff and unmoving, until Shikamaru gently nipped at her bottom lip with his teeth, before soothing it with his tongue. That action alone was congruent with putting butter in a hot pan— she had practically melted against him as she parted her lips to let his tongue explore her mouth.

It couldn’t have been possible to Yūna, but it **was**. Shikamaru was an even better kisser in real life, compared to his prowess in his dreams. Clearly, he didn’t think much of his kissing skill, because it was taking her breath away at that moment.

Neither of them made to break away from the kiss, instead tried to pull each other closer. When their torsos were already flush together, Shikamaru’s hand drifted down to Yūna’s hips and pulled her bottom half closer to him— which alerted her to the fact that he was hard in his pants. She gyrated her hips against the Nara man’s, effectively rubbing her pelvis against his erection.

Yūna was about to jump up and wrap her legs around Shikamaru’s waist when he pulled his lips away from hers. The conniving woman tried to chase after his lips, only to snap her eyes open in a ready glare when she heard him elicit a smug chuckle.

“In my dreams, huh?” The Nara clan head teased under his breath, and was about to step away from the woman in his arms, when the said woman grabbed him by the collar and slammed her lips against his.

Her teeth roughly bit down on his bottom lip, which had Shikamaru wincing.

Embarrassment was coiling deep in Yūna’s gut— both from giving in so easily to the Nara’s kisses, and because of her haughty words from yesterday; which she was currently eating. In any other time or place —hell, with any other person— she could have resisted, but there was just something about Shikamaru that kept pulling her in. He was too tempting for his own good.

“You don’t know how much I want to fuck you right now,” Shikamaru grunted between hungry kisses. It wasn’t like him to have such a filthy mouth, but that prim and proper façade of Yūna’s made him **want** to be as dirty with her as possible. It was primal and totally not what he wanted with the women before Yūna but, lo and behold, he wanted something entirely different with the conniving woman.

The intensity between them was off the charts, and both of them knew that. They just **_worked_**. It was just unfortunate that they didn’t get along, or else they would actually put some effort into their non-relationship. 

The Ueno heiress knew that she was setting herself up for inevitable failure, but she found herself pulling away from the kiss and narrowing her eyes at the man in front of her. She wasn’t a stranger to flings or purely sexual relationships, but this was just dumb because the men before Shikamaru didn’t spark her interest beyond the physical. She gladly set up a friends with benefits system with them because she knew that she would never want anything more with them. But with Shikamaru…

“I think I have an idea,” she answered breathlessly, then gasped when Shikamaru latched onto her neck and started sucking and nipping at the sensitive skin. “I’ll let you fuck me-” Another gasp escaped her lips. “Under a few-”A quiet moan from her. “Con- conditions.”

“Name them,” the raven-haired man muttered against her neck. At that point, he was willing to do almost anything just to have her in his bed.

“No others.” She didn’t want to catch anything.

“Done.” A quick nip at the crook where her neck and shoulder met.

“We only fuck while I’m stationed here.”

“Okay.” A few soothing licks to the marks he’d put on her skin.

“No feelings.”

Shikamaru had to snort at that. He wanted to fuck her, not marry her. “Of course.”

“Never lie to me.” The last one was said in such a serious tone that it actually made Shikamaru stop and lift his head up. Their gazes connected— brown against grey— and he nodded.

“I won’t. You have my word.”

A thick silence engulfed the couple, with both of them simply lost in each other’s gaze, until Yūna lightly pressed her lips against Shikamaru’s before trailing light kisses up his jaw so that she was close to his ear. “What are you waiting for, Nara- _sama_? Fuck me.”

Her words seemed to spark something inside the Nara clan head, because he abruptly hoisted her up by the backs of her thighs so that she was clinging on to him. A squeak of surprise left Yūna’s lips, but she wrapped her own arms around her lover’s neck to steady herself.

Shikamaru didn’t know what had gotten into him, but he felt like his body was on fire. He had so much energy coursing through him that it was hard for him not to pin the woman in his arms against the nearest wall and just take her where they stood.

Yūna wasn’t making it any easier, though. She slid a hand up the back of Shikamaru’s head and tugged at his ponytail to get him to tilt his head. The latter obeyed, and was in for a very welcome surprise when his lover plastered her lips over his— slipping her tongue into his mouth and playing with his own.

Thankfully, the Nara knew layout of his home like the back of his hand— and he used that memory to guide him and Yūna out of the living room and towards his room on the second floor. Unfortunately, he tripped over the shallow well for the _shoji_ panel and he ended up knocking his shoulder against the opposite wall. It would have been Yūna’s back that had taken the impact, had he not twisted his body in time.

The loud thud echoed in the house, which had the couple breaking away from each other with alarmed expressions on their faces. No one dared to make another move as they waited for something, **anything** , to happen.

“Uh, hey, Shikamaru.” The voice was sheepish, but the raven-haired male **knew** whom it belonged to. **Naruto**.

Of all the people to see him in such a compromising position, after such an embarrassing feat, it just **had** to be the biggest loudmouth in Konoha. He reckoned that everyone would know of what happened by tomorrow.

“Oh, the lovebirds are busy. Would you like some tea while you wait for Shikamaru, Naruto- _kun_?” Yoshino asked the blond warmly— though the smug smile on her face was so at odds with her tone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh! Thank you so much for all the feedback on this story. I, honestly, didn't expect so many from you guys. Thank you, thank you!!!!! <3 They make me so happy and motivate me to keep writing.
> 
> I have no clue when I'll finish the next chapter, since I've been sick for the past few days. I'm not even sure if it's my allergies acting up, or the stress catching up to me, or the weather here, but my brain just wants to rest. 


	8. 143 - 8

“Did they **really**?”

Yūna’s cheeks went aflame with a blush when the question was tacked off with a chorus of giggles from the girls in the booth behind them. However, she didn’t look down and hide her face— instead, she raised her head and sat up even straighter as she reached out and lifted her glass of water to her lips.

“Would you like something stronger?” Shikamaru offered quietly, feeling a tad guilty for putting his lover in such a predicament. They were supposed to keep everything as discreet as possible, but Naruto seeing them in such a compromising position had fueled the gossip fodder; and it had spread like wildfire across the village.

The talk of the town was that Shikamaru was officially off the market and that there could be an heir to the clan **very** soon.

From across the lovers, Ino and Choji took bites of their respective meals before trading sly smirks. Their original plan had to be scrapped when they heard the rumors, but their new plot was going way better than they anticipated. Of course, Naruto was only **more than willing** to be their scapegoat, if it meant that they would get to match the Nara clan head up with someone good for him.

Yūna eyed the raven-haired man beside her, then let her gaze drift down to his half-full mug of beer. “It’s two in the afternoon. And it’s very unbecoming of a lady to drink this early.”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her prissy tone, and he briefly wondered why he even wanted her to warm his bed in the first place. She was just so… annoying, yet he couldn’t deny the warm thrumming of lust in his veins at the sight of her lips swathed with that deep red lipstick of hers. “Who cares? It’s night time somewhere.”

The Ueno heiress seemed to ponder her lover’s words for a few seconds, before she reached out and snatched his mug of beer. She really needed a drink to calm her nerves, so **fuck it**. Besides, she was sure that Shikamaru and his friends wouldn’t just leave her if she got drunk out of her mind. Possibly.

Before the Nara could even protest, Yūna had already raised the glass in a silent ‘cheers’ before **downing the contents**. Every single drop. It was half a pint, but he was still surprised because he’d never met a woman— other than the _Godaime_ — who could down that much alcohol in a few seconds.

Chōji let out a low whistle to show his amazement, while Ino gawked at her new friend with the beginning of a grin tugging at the corners of her lips. Shikamaru, however, struggled to keep himself rooted to his seat, because he wanted nothing more than to find out what other hidden talents Yūna possessed— preferably in the bedroom.

She gently set the mug down on the table and raised her hand to call the waitress’s attention. “Hello. Another round of beers, please. Thank you so much.”

 

***

 

“I… maybe you should take it easy on the drinking?” Shikamaru muttered quietly, gingerly reaching over and beginning to slide Yūna’s fifth mug of beer away from her.

The conniving woman caught the Nara’s gaze in a glare before she swatted at his hand roughly. Shikamaru pulled his injured hand back and scowled at the red patch of skin that was on the back of it. “Your face is red, Yūna.”

“I’m fine, Shikamaru!” Yūna answered with a slight slur. Her face was as red as a tomato and felt like an inferno, but she still felt fine. The room wasn’t spinning like it did when she drank too much with her friends and former teammates, so she knew that she could go for one more pint after she finished the one in front of her.  
  
“You’re not. You’re **drunk** , woman!” 

Grey eyes met brown ones before mocking them with a sarcastic eye roll. “I’m **not** , but I bet that you’d just **love** that, wouldn’t you? So you can **finally fuck me**.” 

Shikamaru’s eyes widened in alarm as he quickly brought his right hand up and used that to keep Yūna quiet. Ino and Chōji were trying— and failing— to keep their laughter at bay.

It was at that moment that he realized just how bad an idea it was to offer her an alcoholic beverage. No, it was when she pushed his hand off of her mouth and scrambled over towards him; straddling his waist and pulling his face up to hers in a heated kiss.

“Yūna, s-stop, we’re in public,” Shikamaru tried to reason with her through kisses, only to gasp when she sat down on his lap and started rubbing her core against his concealed erection.

“I don’t care. I want you so bad, Nara- _sama_. **Please** fu-”

“O… kay. I think it’s time for us to go home.” Ino piped up as she took out a few bills from her wallet and set it down on the table. Chōji followed suit and put in his own cut for the meal. Shikamaru, reaching around Yūna and unlatching his lips from hers, dug through his right pant pocket and pulled out enough money to cover his and his lover’s share of the bill.

“Remind me to **never** let you drink again.” _In public_. Shikamaru added the last bit in his mind. He would never admit that this side of his lover was tempting him to take her to the bathrooms and fulfill her wishes over there. But she was still a lady of high social standing, and he couldn’t taint her reputation like that— no matter how much she was tainting it herself at that moment.

Luckily for them, most of the patrons at Yakiniku Q had already left to continue with their day, and the only other people there were the staff.

It was a bit of a struggle, but Shikamaru finally got Yūna on his back— with Chōji and Ino’s combined help— without falling. Her arms were wrapped loosely around his neck, while her legs were on either side of his hips. And with that, they set off for their own homes.

Halfway into the walk towards the Nara compound, Shikamaru could feel the telltale warmth of Yūna’s mouth latching on to the base of his neck and sucking gently on the sensitive skin. It took everything in the Nara not to give his friends any clue as to what his lover was doing to him. Hell, he was already having a hard enough time trying to tamp down his steadily rising erection.

“Nara- _sama_ , I’m so wet for you,” the conniving woman whispered softly against his heated skin. Her words were thick and slurred, but the lust clearly shone through despite those factors.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth, then tightened his grip on Yūna’s thighs to warn her that now was **not** the time to act like a minx.

“I want to feel your warm cum filling me up. Please, Nara- _sama_ ,” Yūna pleaded quietly. “Will you cum inside me?”

She tried to look up at her lover’s profile, but had to squint and eventually close her eyes when the glare of the setting sun met her gaze instead. Her brain took that brief reprieve to get itself back on track— only to get off track after a few seconds. All of her thoughts made sense to her, and she knew that all of the things that she kept on saying were too inappropriate, but she couldn’t seem to stop her mouth from running itself.

It was as if her brain to mouth filter had stopped working, and all of the lewd thoughts that she’d ever had about Shikamaru were rushing to be said. She was feeling brave; hell, she was feeling **shameless**. 

And it was at that moment that she remembered why she didn’t drink much. No, she didn’t really forget, but the reasoning that she needed to dull her feelings with some alcohol outshone her prior resolve.

“ _Oi_ , Shikamaru, this is our stop.” Choji announced aloud after clearing his throat. He eyed the couple in front of him, then quirked an eyebrow at the way that the raven-haired woman on his friend’s back managed to fall asleep at such an uncomfortable position.

Ino stifled a smile at the tension that was practically emanating from Shikamaru and Yūna, then spoke, “We’ll see both of you tomorrow? Don’t have too much fun without us.”

A blush warmed the Nara clan head’s cheeks at the blonde’s double entendre, but he mustered as much dignity as he could into the scoff that served as his reply.

 

***

 

“Nara- _sama,_ **please**. Please fuck me,” Yūna practically sobbed as Shikamaru laid her down as gently as he could on the futon that he had laid out for her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down— which made him lose his balance and fall flush against her. “Make me cum around your hard cock, Nara- _sama_.”

“You’re drunk,” Shikamaru protested weakly. He used his hands to push himself up off his lover’s body, but she pulled him down once more. For good measure, though, she pressed her lips flush against his slightly parted ones.

It was getting harder and harder for the Nara to pull away from his lover with every pass of her tongue against his. His resolve was crumbling, and he was just about a hair’s width away from giving in and fucking her into the morning, when she just went limp beneath him. Her arms around his neck lost their hold on him, and he had to bite back a growl of frustration as he pushed himself up to kneel between her legs.

Everytime that he was close to giving in, something happened to deter the inevitable. It was as if the gods were giving him more and more chances to turn away from Yūna and her proposition while he still had the chance. Hell, while he could still walk away unscathed.

“ _Mendokusai_ ,” the Konoha nin muttered irately as he reached out and put a hand on his lover’s right thigh. He caressed the soft skin up and down, all while letting his fingers slip beneath the hem of her dress. Had he been a lesser man, he would be trying to wake her up with his mouth on her cunt right at that moment.

He brought his hand back towards himself, then moved to palm his erection over his pants with a scowl on his face. He was so tired of having to solve his own problems with cold showers, but it seemed that he didn’t have a choice.

As tempting as it was to just pull his erection out and jack off to the alluring sight that Yūna made, he wasn’t going to defile her like that. Oh, he would defile her— but in so many other ways that would make her body sing for him.

With that thought, he forced himself to get up and walk out of Yūna’s room after putting a blanket on top of her limp body. Before he did anything that he was going to regret… or not.

 

***

 

“ _Ohayō gozaimasu_ ,” Yūna greeted with a subdued smile as she gingerly made her way inside the kitchen. Her gaze immediately connected with Shikamaru’s, and it was as if an electrical current went through her body and pressed the on switch for her libido.

In an effort to subdue the rush of lust through her, the Ueno heiress averted her gaze from the only male in the room, in favor of looking at his mother.

Yoshino smiled at her son’s fiancée. She wasn’t gullible enough to believe all the rumors that started circulating around Konoha, but a lengthy discussion with Ino had her agreeing with the blonde’s plan to set her son up with Yūna. He needed someone who was going to keep challenging him at every turn and, from the stories that Ino had told her as well as what she saw between them, the woman in front of her seemed to be the right fit for Shikamaru.

She’d be damned if she left this world without being assured that someone worthy was going to take care of her son. And, there was a tiny part of her that wanted to see grandchildren as soon as possible.

It was going to be quite an effort to make Yūna and Shikamaru fall in love with each other, but it was all going to be worth it. She was sure of it. “Have a seat, Yūna- _chan_ , it’s time for breakfast.”

“I…” The warm invitation stumped her for a few seconds, because it had been **years** since she had been called to breakfast in such a motherly tone. It made her heart ache for her own mother, all while making it flutter with brief spiels of happiness that she could experience something that she didn’t even realize that she missed. “ _Hai_ , _okaa-san_.”

Once she sat down beside Shikamaru, they made quick work of the meal that Yoshino had made. It didn’t taste as good as the food that the cooks at her house made but, uncannily enough, it tasted much, much better. Maybe it was the company, or the conversation, or maybe it was just because it was a meal made with love; she wasn’t sure, but she liked it.

“Honestly speaking, though, I was the most well-behaved out of my brothers. They would call me their ‘ _witch of a sister’_ , since I would fight back when they would pick on me, but I love all of them. They’re great, even though they tend to do dumb things most of the time.” Yūna prattled on with a small, fond smile on her face. She set her chopsticks down and quietly thanked the gods for the meal, before taking a sip of her jasmine tea.

Across from her, the Nara matriarch giggled. With every passing minute, she found that she liked Yūna more and more for her son. She was witty, funny, and had a sharp tongue hidden beneath that refined façade of hers— which was exactly what she wanted in a daughter-in-law. “I used to want lots of siblings, but now I’m glad that I was an only child. I would have fought with them all the time.”

Yūna nodded with a grin. “Having one or two siblings is enough, but having have had five brothers? It was like living in a perpetual _chūnin_ exam. I had fun while growing up, though, so it’s not all bad.”

“Does that mean that I’ll be seeing lots of grandkids?” Yoshino asked sweetly, all while a grin lit up her face.

Shikamaru choked on air, and he started sputtering as he shook his head. He looked up at his mother and narrowed his eyes at her, before averting them when she quirked a challenging eyebrow at him. He made to grab his own cup of tea, only to stop mid-reach when another cup slid into his view— one that had a slight smear of that familiar deep red lipstick on the rim.

“Yours is empty, so you can have mine,” Yūna answered in explanation, and Shikamaru looked up at her dumbly as he reached out and took her cup.

He looked down at it curiously for a few seconds, until the woman beside him spoke up again, “I didn’t poison it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Brown eyes narrowed in irritation, and made contact with grey ones. Their stare-off was intense and laden with suppressed lust, so when Shikamaru turned the cup in his hand and lifted it up to his lips to finish the contents off, Yūna had to bite down on her tongue to keep herself from licking her lips. She never knew that seeing a smudge of her lipstick on someone else’s lips would be so hot.

“Oh, I forgot that I have to return the book I borrowed from Mika- _san_.” There was no book that Yoshino borrowed from her friend. She was just smart enough to sense the social cues in the room, and this cue was telling her to make herself scarce if she wanted to marry her son off to Yūna.

Once the Nara matriarch was out of the room with barely a word from the couple about cleaning up, both Shikamaru and Yūna sat staring at each other.

Seconds barely passed by until the raven-haired male was on the Ueno heiress. He had been holding himself back all night, hell— all week, and he would be damned if he didn’t take his chance. With his lips flush against hers and their tongues eagerly playing with each other, he scooped her up in his arms and, with one fell swoop of his right hand, he knocked most of the plates and utensils on the table to the ground with a loud clang of breaking ceramic.

His mother was going to murder him for breaking her plates and bowls, but he couldn’t care less about his imminent demise at the moment. Not when Yūna was wrapping her legs around his waist and rubbing herself against his crotch.

One hand drifted down from her waist to grope her thigh, before riding up and cupping her pussy. Her **bare** pussy. “Fuck, you’re not wearing any underwear. You’re killing me here.”

“I wanted to get fucked yesterday, Nara- _sama_. I’m only making things easier for you.” She didn’t even have time to even be ashamed of the words that rolled out of her mouth, because Shikamaru’s fingers were already playing with her clit. Her brain was blissfully empty of everything except the man on top of her.

Shikamaru couldn’t help it. He knew that it was highly inappropriate, and that she deserved somewhere better for this to happen, but she was just **too much**. His resolve had been frayed to the barest of threads, and the last one had snapped as soon as his lips touched hers.

Warm lips trailed down Yūna’s body, occasionally nipping at her clothed skin before resting against the inside of her thigh. Shikamaru latched his mouth onto the soft skin and sucked eagerly before finishing the love bite with a teasing lick. His lover’s thighs twitched and he wrapped his arms around them in a tight grip as he flipped the hem of her dress up and admired her bare cunt.

The Nara disliked giving oral more than anything, but his need to hear Yūna screaming his name and his want to see her coming undone because of his tongue and fingers outshone that aversion. He was on his knees on the floor at that moment, taking the moment into memory before he leaned forward and licked a stripe up his lover’s pink slit.

A breathless gasp was ripped from the Ueno heiress’s lips, as her hips involuntarily bucked up in surprise and pleasure. Shikamaru had to hold her down with a bit of force as he played with her cunt. His lips closed in around her clit and his tongue flicked it back and forth, which had Yūna trying to close her legs as her breathless gasps escalated into wanton mewls.

“Oh my, Nara- _sama_!” Her hand flew down to get a grip on his head— to urge him to go faster or to tell him to slow down, he didn’t know. Judging by her pleasured cries, though, she was really enjoying what he was doing. He found that he liked her enthusiasm in bed— and that fueled his desire to make her come undone beneath him even more.

And to hear her repeatedly call him **Nara- _sama_** just did something to him. He’d never really had a superiority kink, but he wanted to hear Yūna keep calling him that. All the more, he wanted to hear her repeatedly scream it as he fucked her senseless.

Shikamaru let his right hand join in on the foray. His fingertips ran up and down her wet slit— parting her folds and lubricating them with her arousal. Then, he lightly nipped at her clit while slipping his middle finger inside her opening. Yūna’s walls gripped him tightly and he smirked against her pussy as he slowly pumped it in and out of her.

Yūna’s legs involuntarily shook with every movement from Shikamaru, and breathless moans escaped her parted lips even as she tried to suppress them. He was just **that** good. Hell, he was even better at eating her out in person than in his own dreams. Her fingers tried to curl into his hair, only to scratch against the base of his ponytail, so she gripped the tied-up strands and tugged gently as she pushed Shikamaru’s head down with the heel of her hand.

He took that as a signal to add another finger, which had her back arching off the table as a loud moan left her lips. With every pump of Shikamaru’s fingers inside her, she could feel herself getting closer and closer to the edge. The telltale tense coiling feeling at the base of her stomach was there, not to mention that her thighs kept involuntarily quivering. “Oh, oh, oh my gods. I’m cumming, Nara- _sama_ \- **_aaaaaah_**!”

The self-satisfied smirk on Shikamaru’s lips immediately disappeared when he heard his lover’s pleasured cry turn into one of fear. He looked up at her and followed where her mortified gaze was focused.

“ _Mendokusai_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! Thank you so much for the support on this story! I really, really appreciate every kudos, bookmark, and comment that you guys leave. Seriously. <3
> 
> However, I think I have to be honest with you guys. I was REALLY, REALLY conflicted with where to take this chapter. I was about to take it deep into serious-topic territory, but decided against it at the last minute. Because I think that the things that will come in the future will be serious enough; as has always been my writing style. I am still very conflicted, though. 
> 
> On one hand, I want to add in so much angst and drama and mystery to the story to add to the main pairing's personal and interpersonal struggles. But on the other hand, I want it to be lighter since it is the post-war era. I just feel like everyone needs a breather, you know? Which is why I'm asking for you guys' opinions on the matter. It would help me so much if I got your input on this. <3


	9. 143 - 9

The irate expression on the Nara’s face was the sealing reason for the ANBU falter in his step as he walked forward to hand the man the letter from the Hokage. He had already been shaken by the sight that greeted him earlier, and was rendered even more dumbfounded when the _senbon_ from the raven-haired woman lodged itself in the very middle of his porcelain mask.

Shikamaru got up to his feet and was careful to shield Yūna with his body as he helped her sit upright on the dining table. Her face was red with embarrassment, and he would have found it adorable had it not been for the fact that he had been cockblocked. **AGAIN**. And also the fact that it put Yūna at a disadvantage.

True, ANBU were discreet, but it was still another person who had seen her in such a compromising state. But Shikamaru had to admit that the sight of his lover’s _senbon_ protruding from the ANBU’s mask made for a humorous sight. But he was going to laugh about that later. Right now he was pissed at himself for not sensing the other nin sooner. 

The raven-haired male pressed a chaste, yet comforting, kiss against Yūna’s lips before he turned to face the person that Kakashi had sent to deliver a message. He didn’t even want to think about **why** he did that— momentary lapse in judgment, perhaps?

“Not a word of this to **anyone**.” Shikamaru warned seriously as he unrolled the scroll in his hands and read the contents. A scowl instantly marred his features. “Tell the Hokage that I’ll be there in ten minutes. Dismissed.”

With a curt nod, the ANBU seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye.

As much as Yūna wanted a re-do of that mindblowing orgasm, the sensual mood in the room had already evaporated with her surprised scream earlier. It had been so good that she had let her guard down. **Nara Shikamaru was THAT good at eating pussy.**

“What is it? You’re scowling more than you usually do after you see me,” Yūna tried for a quick jab as she got up from the table and eyed the broken shards of ceramic on the floor. She would have to replace that. It was the least she could do to atone for sullying Yoshino’s dining table 

Silence reigned over the couple as Shikamaru read over the letter once more, but the contents didn’t change like he hoped that it would. So, the Ueno heiress took that time to crouch down and pick up the shards on the floor— knowing that Shikamaru would speak up once he was done with pondering things over in his head.

Men always cracked after nonchalance and silence; at least, the men in her life did.

“You’re not obligated to tell me, you know? We’re not **dating** or anything,” the raven-haired woman stated with a flippant wave of her right hand; as if the very word was offending. 

Shikamaru knew that he didn’t **have** to tell her, he could be a dick and just let her find out the news by herself, but he wasn’t that bad. In a sense, he **was** ‘dating’ her— even if they’d barely started— and he **had** promised to always be honest with her…

A heavy sigh left his lips, and he ran a tired hand over his face; barely registering the fact that his fingers and mouth still held traces of Yūna’s arousal. The reminder made his cock stand at attention once more, but he ignored it in favor of giving her the news. “We have guests from _Sunagakure_. The _Kazekage_ and his siblings.”

Yūna froze mid-reach for another shard of ceramic, then turned to look up at Shikamaru’s somber expression. She had never seen him more conflicted than at that moment, and a small smirk tugged at the corners of her lips. She wasn’t immune to listening to the gossip during the war— hell, she wasn’t placed in the Intelligence Division for nothing. “Well then, I guess you better get going. No use in making Temari wait to see you again.”

A catty smile replaced the smirk on her face, and widened into a grin when she saw Shikamaru’s eyes widen a fraction of an inch. She didn’t like sharing what she knew was hers, but she certainly did enjoy seeing the shock on her past lovers’ faces when she brought up their old flames. Teasing them like that always made for a fun time.

“I… You… You’re not…?” He trailed off, unsure of how to phrase his question.

“Mad? Jealous? Pissed?” Yūna giggled, then shook her head with a self-assured smile on her face. “I’m the one who just came all over your mouth and fingers, not her. What’s there to be mad about? Unless you’re already backing out of our agreement?”

The challenging note in her voice made Shikamaru’s lips purse into a thin line that showed his displeasure. He already knew that it was in his lover’s nature to be goading, but that didn’t mean that he had to like it. That didn’t help with his already short fuse with her.

She took his silence as enough of an answer, then deliberately turned away from him to resume her earlier task of picking up the broken shards of ceramic on the floor. The Nara clan head didn’t appear to like that, since he crossed the distance between them and picked her up by her shoulders. He then turned her around and slammed his lips to hers, coaxing her mouth open and roughly biting down on her bottom lip before pulling away.

“Back out of our agreement when I haven’t even filled you up with my cum? Sorry, _hime-sama_ , but you’re **mine** while you’re here.” It was uncharacteristic of the Nara to be so loose with his words, but Yūna made him do a lot of things. Stupid things; like pressing his lips to hers once more in a heated kiss when he should have already been headed to the Hokage’s office.

Her lipstick was smeared around her mouth when he was done with her, and he was sure that his face wasn’t faring any better than hers. Still, a self-satisfied smirk made his lips quirk up when he saw the lust-filled gaze that was pinned on him. “We’ll continue this later.”

 

***

 

Shikamaru’s words from earlier rang through Yūna’s mind, and she had to resist the urge to smile like the cat that got the cream. If fate would have it, she **was** going to get the cream later on. A creampie, if Shikamaru really was going to indulge her pleas. Hopefully with no more interruptions.

“Yūna!” The familiar voice jolted the Ueno from her reverie, and she looked up from where she had been absentmindedly looking at the nice bowls on display at a stall.

Grey eyes met blue ones, then flitted over to seafoam-colored irises that seemed so familiar. She vaguely remembered being patched up by the pink-haired _kunoichi_ beside Ino. Her name was Sakura, if she remembered correctly. She smiled at both of them, nonetheless. “Hello, Ino. Um, hello to you, too… Sakura- _san_? 

Both women returned her smile, but Sakura’s expression was laced with a bit of surprise, before recognition dawned on her. “Oh, you were the one with all the… worried brothers.” 

“Worrywarts, each and every one of them.” Yūna answered with a playful roll of her eyes. “But thank you again for patching me up back then. If you ever need anything, please feel free to ask me. I’m in your debt.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Really. I was just doing my job.” Sakura answered with a flustered grin.

Ino laughed at the exchange, then patted the pink-haired girl’s shoulder. “I told you she’s more polite than all the Hyūga combined. So, what are you up to right now, Yūna? And why isn’t Shikamaru with you?”

“Well…” She couldn’t exactly tell them that she was out shopping for replacement tableware for Yoshino because Shikamaru was too reckless and just pushed everything off the table. “I was just looking for some nice tableware for Yoshino- _san_ … I mean… _okaa-san_.”

The last part of the raven-haired woman’s sentence piqued the blonde’s interest. “Already cozy with your future mother-in-law, eh?”

“Wait, so it’s **true**? You and Shikamaru are engaged?” Sakura gaped. She looked similar to a fish out of water, but Yūna was too polite to react or comment on it. She saved all her attitude for Shikamaru. Riling him up was much more fun; besides, she was here to promote peace between their villages and make friends of her own. Calling Sakura out would only tarnish her so-far spotless reputation.

“It’s not really-” Yūna began, only to be cut off by Ino, which made her quirk an eyebrow at the blonde.

“ **Yes**. She’s **that** Yūna. Shikamaru’s Yūna.” It wasn’t obvious to her before, but it was plain as day now: she had been matchmaking all along.

If she were being honest, she was impressed that Ino managed to keep it under wraps for as long as she had. Usually, Yūna sensed other peoples’ underhanded plans with her the moment that they thought of it, but Ino was good. She had to give her that.

Still, she wasn’t mad, though. Because the rumors were all going to end once she left Konoha. She and Shikamaru would have a clean break, and they could go back to whatever they were doing before they met each other. She wasn’t looking forward to all of the potential husbands that her clan’s elders were, undoubtedly, going to invite over, but it was what it was.

It was no different from that mission she did with Yukio; the one where they had to pretend to be an engaged couple. The only difference was that she didn’t sleep with her teammate. And it was also no different from the flings that she’d had before Shikamaru; uncomplicated physical relationships with no emotional attachments whatsoever. At least, she hoped that it was going to be that easy.

Something told her that it wasn’t, but she was going to cross that bridge when she got to it. For now, she was going to enjoy the ride. Or, in this case, the sex.

“To answer your earlier question, Ino, Shikamaru had to attend to the _Kazekage_ and his siblings. Apparently they’re in Konoha for a visit.”

“Oh, they are? Really now…” the blonde trailed off with a slight smile on her face. “How about we keep you company, then? Besides, this place is too expensive. Unless you want something from here.”

A slight smile lit up the raven-haired woman’s face, and she pointed at the hand-painted tableware set displayed at the window. “I actually had my eyes set on that one. It’s made of bone ash, so it’s much lighter than other bowls.”

Sakura’s eyebrows furrowed a little at the topic. She had never been the kind of woman who paid too much attention to homely matters— mainly because she was almost always training or on missions— so it was weird to see a _kunoichi_ (on active duty) like her that **cared** , let alone knew, about what a bowl was made of.

“But I doubt that Yos- _okaa-san_ would appreciate me trying to replace her old tableware with completely different ones.” Yūna continued with a somewhat sheepish grin, which made Ino laugh as she looped an arm through each of the other girls’ arms.

The blonde then proceeded to drag them deeper into the market district with a determined gleam in her eyes.

 

***

 

“That’s just mean, and completely reminds me of Yukio when we were younger.” Yūna exclaimed with an exasperated groan that she partnered with a roll of her eyes. “He was such a pain.” 

All three women had been walking around town for a good two hours, in the hopes that they would find tableware that was good enough for the Nara matriarch. So far, they had made note of the prospective stores that they would return to, all while looking for new options.

Sakura had become much more comfortable in Yūna’s presence, as the latter had dropped some of her formalities— yet, she didn’t lose the enviously perfect posture that she sported. Whether they were squeezing through crowds or ducking to avoid the low-hanging canopies of some stalls, she never faltered. Ino had given her a brief rundown of their new friend’s background, but she had truly underestimated the part where she said that Yūna was going to be the envy of all the women in Konoha; excluding her, of course.

Most people did a double-take at the Ueno heiress, but she paid them no mind as she kept talking to her new friends. Had she been at _Tsukigakure_ , she would have greeted each and every person with a warm smile. But she wasn’t there; she was far from her hometown— far from her people. Even if her clan had stepped down from leading the village to make room for new clans who had new ideas, they were still very well-respected and well-regarded in the village.

“I’m genuinely curious, Yūna,” Ino began with a sly grin. “Did you and Yukio- _san_ ever…” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, which made Sakura’s eyes widen as a smile slowly tugged at her lips. They might have been _kunoichi_ , but they were still women— and women **loved** to talk.

“Well…” Yūna pursed her lips as she tried to think of any time when she and her childhood friend had ever been more physical aside from when she was receiving his chakra-replenishing kisses. “No. And it will never happen. Yukio and I kissed— a lot, especially back then— but no, I never had the urge to sleep with him.”

“Was he a good kisser, though?” Sakura chimed in. She had never met this Yukio person but, with the way that Yūna had described him earlier, he seemed to be an attractive man.

A peal of laughter escaped the raven-haired woman’s lips, and she nodded. “I have to admit that Yukio is a really good kisser. Hands down, one of the best I’ve ever kissed.”

Yūna had felt his presence way before she had seen him and, judging by the almost-indecipherable scowl that tugged at Shikamaru’s lips, he had heard her. His brown eyes slightly narrowed as they connected with her grey ones, but Yūna only smiled sweetly at him before raising her right hand and doing a finger-wave. It was then that she realized that things had worked out in Ino’s favor.

Maybe the blonde didn’t plan on bumping into her at the market district, but it was her plan to keep her talking about Yukio until they inevitably bumped into Shikamaru and the visitors from _Sunagakure_. She almost wanted to turn around and commend her for her tactic. Almost.

But the sight of Shikamaru walking towards her with that single-celled focus, admittedly made her body hum with want. Already, she was itching for a continuation of what transpired after breakfast.

“ _Oi_ , already forgetting about me?” Shikamaru grunted out in greeting. It earned a quirked eyebrow from Ino, while Sakura looked back at the blonde with a seemingly-innocent look on her face. This was very uncharacteristic of Shikamaru, and they both knew it. Hell, he didn’t even spare a glance at the trio that he was supposed to be escorting around town.

As subtly as she could, Yūna licked her suddenly-dry lips, before shrugging nonchalantly. “Simply rehashing my days before you, Nara- _sama_.”

“Yūna,” The Nara warned quietly. He hadn’t known her for a long time, but he knew her well enough to know that she would use everything in her arsenal to goad him. Still, he wanted to wipe away that sweet smile on her lips; it looked too conniving on her.

“Shikamaru,” the Ueno retorted with a challenging quirk of her eyebrow.

He could only shake his head in response, until his lover closed the distance between them with a few easy strides. She looked up at him with those piercing grey eyes of hers, then shot him a wink before leaning up on her toes so she could press a brief kiss to his lips.

“You know it’s rude to leave guests unattended, right?”

The statement made all three Konoha nin look back at the _Kazekage_ ’s party. The three _Suna_ nin were watching their exchange with curious eyes— especially Temari.

“Your ex-girlfriend is looking,” Yūna teased. She reached up with her index and middle fingers extended, and smoothed out the crease that formed between her lover’s eyebrows when he frowned.

“Not my ex-girlfriend.”

“If you say so.”

“Don’t act so jealous. It’s such a drag.”

Grey eyes narrowed before briefly flicking over to the blonde _Suna_ nin, then back to gazing into Shikamaru’s brown irises. “Need I remind you, Shikamaru, that **I** am the one that you’ll be fucking tonight. I’m the one that you’re going to fill with your cum. I’m the one who’s going to be screaming your name as I cum all over your cock; all the way into the morning. So I don’t see the need to be jealous of someone who got that before me, when I’m the one who’s getting it **now**. She’s reliving it in her memories, but I’m experiencing it in real time. So who should be jealous of whom?”

If Shikamaru had no shame, he would already have dragged Yūna over to the nearest alley and fucked her senseless, because her confidence was just so… sexy, and annoying.

“I bet you want to shut me up with your cock in my mouth, don’t you?” The conniving woman asked in a tone that was barely above a whisper, before chuckling when her lover remained silent with narrowed eyes set on her. And then, in a much more normal tone, she added, “I’ll see you at home, Nara- _sama_. Please don’t keep me waiting for too long.”

How she had managed to turn the tables on him, he had no clue where to even begin answering that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Ahhh, it's amazing that I updated two days in a row. I used to do daily updates back then, but that was when I was bound to my bed after a major operation. Eh. I wish I could do updates like those again, though.
> 
> But yes, if you guys have any suggestions, really, I'm open to them. And I would really appreciate it if you could help me decide where to take the story. <3
> 
> Also, I do apologize if Shikamaru seems a bit... ooc? I just have think that he would be the way that I write him if he were to be with someone like Yūna. I dunno.
> 
> Thank you so, so much! <3


	10. 143 - 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh! Thank you so much for the support, everyone!  
> Honestly, seeing every kudos, bookmark, and comment notification on my phone makes me so happy and pushes me to try to be much better for myself, as well as for all of you.<3 Thank you!

Unfortunately for Yūna, ‘later’ never came for her. And she never cameas well. To say that she was disappointed was the understatement of the century. What irritated her more was the fact that she **knew** that she didn’t have the right to demand anything from Shikamaru; she couldn’t demand an explanation for his absence, nor could she demand him to get his ass over to his house so they could fuck already.

If there was anything that Yūna hated more than having people lie to her, it was when people didn’t pull through with their promises.

And that was the main reason why she decided to go for another walk around town; to clear her head and to tamp down the irritation that she felt towards Shikamaru. As soon as she had finished eating breakfast with Yoshino— who had told her not to bother with replacing her tableware (and that grandchildren were enough of a tradeoff for a few broken bowls)— she volunteered to do the dishes, only to be shooed out of the kitchen.

Shikamaru wasn’t even there for breakfast, and she didn’t feel his presence anywhere in the house. That fact made her scowl as she shook her head in mild disbelief. No, she wasn’t jealous; she was feeling cross with him for making her wait until 2 in the morning for nothing. She didn’t fall asleep until 3, though, since she wrote down her reports for the Union so that she wouldn’t have to talk to Shikamaru in the morning.

As soon as Yūna exited the house, she noticed that the streets were much livelier in the morning than they were in the later parts of the day. Maybe it was because it was the weekend, and most people didn’t have to rush to work and whatnot, that the streets were buzzing with activity.

She had barely set foot outside the compound when she saw the familiar spiked up ponytail making its way through the cluster of people. Her upper lip briefly curled in disdain before she continued taking her earlier path— right towards Shikamaru.

“Yūna,” the Nara called with a hint of guilt in his tone.

“No.” She answered with a glare. “Just no, Nara- _san_.”

“I can explain.”

“You don’t owe me an explanation.”

“ _Mendokusai_.” Shikamaru grumbled, then ran his hand over his face in an exasperated gesture. “Stop being so difficult.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“I’m **not**.”

“You… **fuck**.” The raven-haired male cursed irately under his breath, before he strode forward and quickly slung Yūna over his right shoulder. She attempted to get out of his grip, but he had already used his shadow binding technique on her, so she couldn’t move a muscle— except for her mouth.

“I swear to all the gods, Nara Shikamaru, if you don’t let me go right now…” Yūna hissed as she tried to fight the _jutsu_ , only to fail. She had even activated her _mugen_ in an attempt to free herself when she had the chance to look into his eyes, but that was all for naught as he avoided her gaze altogether.

They passed the Nara clan’s compound boundaries once more, and a few members of the clan gave them curious looks as they went by. Some even had the gall to chuckle at the embarrassing predicament that she was in.

Once Shikamaru knew that they were far enough from curious eyes, he set Yūna down against the side of a small tool shed, and kept her pinned against one of the aging wooden walls with his hands on her shoulders. He dissolved the grip that his _jutsu_ had on her, and instantly closed his eyes when he noticed the eerie flash of her _kekkei genkai_ before she could trap him with her gaze. 

Yūna tried to shove her lover’s hands off of her, to no avail. His hold on her was tight, but not tight enough to hurt her. “Let go of me.”

“Not until you listen,” Shikamaru answered, still with his eyes closed.

Silence greeted his ears after that, and he took it as a sign to continue. So he did. “I wanted nothing more than to go home last night. But something urgent came up and I had to stay and fix it.”

“What?” Yūna hissed under her breath. She didn’t even bother to hide the venom in her tone, which made the man in front of her flinch. “What came up? Your dick for Temari?”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the Ueno heiress instantly clamped her lips shut and roughly gnawed at the inside of her bottom lip for her gaffe. With all her talk of not **needing** to be jealous of an old flame, she immediately changed her mind when it crossed her mind that she had been ditched for another woman.

The thought made her angry. It was as if her feelings were getting too rampant for her mind and were trying to escape her body. Her body felt too restricting.

And that was the real, underlying reason of why she was in such an abysmal mood. Shikamaru promising to continue where they left off had played a part in it, but the real catalyst was her own petty feelings of jealousy. She wasn’t used to feeling such a thing because, modesty aside, she had never had a reason to be jealous of anything. Not until she met Shikamaru.

“Are you… jealous?” The question was said with such disbelief that Yūna didn’t even manage to pick up on the hint of smugness in Shikamaru’s tone.

Instead of answering his query, though, she demanded flatly, “Look at me.”

The Nara shook his head as a frown tugged at his lips. “Thanks, but I’d like to keep my sanity.”

“ _Tch_.” The scoff sounded so unusual coming from Yūna, but Shikamaru didn’t dare comment on it. He could feel the irritation coming off of her in waves, and he was close to suffocating on it. He was sure that if he had kept his eyes open, he would be on the ground and screaming bloody murder as she put him under her _jutsu_.

Silence descended upon the couple once more, since both of them were struggling with the weight of their own thoughts. Shikamaru was pondering how to approach the situation without getting seriously injured or maimed, while Yūna was trying to weigh the pros and cons of using one of her newfound abilities on her lover.

With a quiet exhale of her breath to calm her nerves, the raven-haired woman quickly gathered her chakra to her right hand. Once she was sure that it wasn’t going to backfire on her, she lifted her hand up between her and Shikamaru, then gently pressed her chakra-covered palm to his closed eyes.

Shikamaru almost hissed at the initial icy feel of his lover’s hand over his eyes, and he would have jumped away from her, had the vision… dream —whatever it was— not played behind his closed eyelids.

It was a pretty graphic and raunchy vision of him and Yūna fucking in her room. She was bouncing up and down on his cock with such force that the sound of their skin slapping together reverberated in the room. With every thrust of Shikamaru’s cock in her, the image of Yūna in the lifelike dream would either utter long, filthy statements that made him hard in his pants, or she would moan unabashedly as she cried out Shikamaru’s name over and over.

He saw a completely identical copy of himself gazing up at the naked Yūna with lust in his eyes. That Shikamaru’s hands gripped his lover’s waist tightly as she moved up and down on him, and he’d be damned if he didn’t admit that he was feeling jealous of his other self at that moment.

“That’s how it was supposed to be last night, if only you didn’t break your word.”

The Nara opened his mouth to get in a word edgewise, only to bite down on his bottom lip when the vision changed into a different scene. Yūna was on her back in the scene, with her legs up against Shikamaru’s shoulders. He was thrusting frantically in her, and the fictitious version of the conniving woman could only scream in pleasure as her lover brought her to her climax.

“That **should** have been us last night.”

“It could be us right now.” Shikamaru answered thickly, then lifted his left hand up and encircled his fingers lightly around Yūna’s wrist. “I really meant to see you last night. I swear, Yūna.”

His thumb started rubbing small, soothing circles against the inside of his lover’s wrist, but she was having none of it. The raven-haired woman pulled her hand away from Shikamaru, then narrowed her eyes at his still-closed ones.

“I fucking **waited** for you.”

“I should have done something to inform you…”

Golden eyes narrowed even more as a scowl marred the Ueno’s face. “But you didn’t want Temari to see. Is that it?”

“Stop bringing her into this. And stop being so jealous. Whatever happened to those high and mighty words of yours?” Shikamaru snapped, which made Yūna falter a bit at his tone. It was the first time that he had actually snapped at her. “I **don’t** want to fuck **her**. I want to fuck **you**. Hard. Until you’re so filled with me that all you can scream is my name as I pound my cock into you until I’m satisfied.”

That admission brought a bit of relief to Yūna’s conflicting emotions. It served as a salve to a mild burn that kept irritating her. She pursed her lips and sighed as she deactivated her _mugen_. “You can open your eyes now.”

“I don’t want my brain to turn into mush, so no.” Shikamaru drawled, then let his lips stretch out into a thin line that showed his displeasure at his current disadvantage.

“If I wanted to do that, you would already be halfway to the hospital by now. Or I would have touched your forehead— which I did **not** do. 

Briefly, the Konoha nin remembered her little display of power back in her town. He had meant to ask her before, but now seemed a good a time as any to ask about it. “Tsujiri- _san_ mentioned that, but I saw you using just your index finger for some people while, for others, you used two fingers. You were careful to hide it from Tsujiri- _san_ , but you didn’t think to hide it from me.”

The woman’s eyes briefly widened in surprise, then she clicked her tongue. She hadn’t thought to be more careful. Of course, she could lie to Shikamaru, but it was only fair to honor the same promises that he had agreed to when they first started this thing between them. “Only my brothers know, and now you. But I have full control of the _mugen_ and its abilities. It’s as much of a blessing as it is a curse, but I have to accept it since the guardians of my clan’s forest have given it to me as a gift. Females are rarely born to the head family, and I was the first one born after half a decade, so...”

It was at that point that Shikamaru decided to open his eyes, and he was pleasantly surprised to find that those grey eyes of hers were trained on him. Hell, his heart even skipped a beat at the heat and intensity of her gaze. Fortunately for him, he didn’t have to speak, because Yūna continued her explanation, and he soaked it up eagerly. 

“I can do all that my brothers can do, and so much more, but it takes up too much chakra.” _And it comes at a price._ The unspoken words rang inside Yūna’s mind, and she minutely shook her head in an effort to clear it of the unsavory reminder.

Shikamaru didn’t miss the brief flicker of uncertainty in his lover’s gaze, but he decided not to comment on it. Instead, he moved his hand from her right shoulder to cup the side of her face, while he used his left hand to pin her wrist against the wall.

Those grey irises of hers would someday be the death of him, because they were so damn irresistible. They pulled him in without even trying. And that was what he found himself doing; he gave in to their magnetic pull and brushed his lips lightly against his lover’s lips.

Her tongue darted out between those rosy lips of hers, and savored the minuscule taste of him that lingered with that passing touch. “What were you really doing last night?”

The question hung heavily in the air, until Shikamaru clicked his tongue in mild irritation before crashing his mouth against Yūna’s. He took advantage of her pliant lips and slipped his tongue inside her mouth to play with her tongue. He coaxed her tongue into his own mouth, only to suck on it before biting down gently.

As he pulled away from her, a smirk crossed his lips as he took in the heavy lidded and breathless look that Yūna sported. “Helping the Hokage and his very important guests reach an agreement about international matters. Thinking about how much I wanted to go home so I could fuck you until morning.”

“I don’t like waiting for **anything** or **anyone** , Nara- _sama_.” Yūna answered hotly. And Shikamaru wordlessly pulled her flush against his body before he _shunshin_ -ed to his own home. He was lucky that it was only a short distance away, because transporting two people like that really took its toll on his sleep-deprived body.

“Then let’s fuck **now**.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops. Cliffhanger.  
> Please don't hurt me. Lol.  
> But really, what should I do? Should I let them be happy and finally do the do???? 
> 
> Also, this chapter had me saying "keep telling yourself that" about Yūna's reasons. I just love the blatant denial of any of her feelings. For once I'm satisfied about writing a bad trait of a character of mine. Was it just me or????


	11. 143 - 11

Luckily for both Yūna and Shikamaru, Yoshino was out tending to her hobnob garden of sorts. The Ueno heiress had wanted to help the older woman make some sense of her little collection, but she simply hadn’t had the time to do so.

 _One of these days_. The raven-haired woman promised herself, just as her lover captured her lips with his own and flashed them up to his room. His hands were gripping her hips so tight that she had to tamp down the urge to tell him that she wasn’t going anywhere. Not when he was rubbing his hard cock so enticingly against her; like he was at that moment.

Shikamaru slid the _shoji_ behind him open, then was about to backtrack into the room when he stepped on what felt like paper. He reluctantly broke away from his lover’s lips and scowled down at whatever he had stepped on. Lo and behold, it **was** paper— neatly folded in thirds with his name as the sole inscription on the outside. 

Yūna looked down at the paper as well, and had the decency to be a tad embarrassed at how childish her attempt at giving the Nara the cold shoulder had been. She had never had to separate business and pleasure before, so it was a whole new ball game for her.

After stepping away from his lover, the Nara picked up the letter addressed to him and skimmed the contents. With every sentence that he read, his expression grew more cross, until a blatant scowl marred his features. He couldn’t even finish the first page with how his emotions bordered on irritation and disbelief. Yūna had been planning on giving him the cold shoulder all along, and that **stung**.

He folded the letter and held his lover’s gaze with a dark look in his eyes. “What the hell is this?”

“Paper?” Yūna answered as coolly as she could when, deep down, she could see the personification of her subconscious shaking her head in disappointment. Shikamaru’s expression grew darker, and she acquiesced. “A letter.”

“I know that it’s a letter, Yūna,” the raven-haired male snapped irately, then held the folded stationery up to bring emphasis to it. “You were planning on ignoring me all day. Even going as far as to **write** **down** your report for the Union. Just so you could avoid me?”

“I’m doing my part by reporting to you. Last time I checked, there wasn’t a rule saying **how** I should go about it. I could tell you my damn report while fucking you, if it makes you happy.” 

A muscle in Shikamaru’s jaw twitched as his irritation flared even more, but he held himself back. Instead, he chose to verbalize his thoughts. “Well, too fucking bad. I only want to hear you talk about how good my cock feels, and how much you want me to fill you up with my cum.”

If it wasn’t obvious before, the sexual tension between the couple was blatantly obvious at that moment. With that tension, though, also came unplanned reactions.

Yūna practically threw herself at the Nara male at that. She grabbed his face in her hands and slammed his lips against hers, then jumped up to wrap her legs around his waist. Luckily, Shikamaru had fine-tuned reflexes and managed to catch her with his hands on the underside of her thighs.

He scoffed lightly against her lips before roughly biting down on her bottom lip. Yūna flinched at the stinging pain, but couldn’t hold back the pleasured whimper that escaped her lips. She had never had a penchant for being handled roughly, but she found herself growing fond of the almost primal and animalistic way that Shikamaru was handling her. It was **hot** with him, when someone else would have been deemed as _trying too hard_ had they tried that with her.

Being the genius that he was, the Nara quickly caught up with the wavelength of his lover’s thoughts and quickly debated with himself if he should follow through with what his body wanted him to do with Yūna. It didn’t even take ten seconds before he roughly pushed her up against his bedroom wall before grinding his clothed erection up against her damp heat.

A breathy gasp escaped Yūna’s mouth as her hips involuntarily jerked when Shikamaru practically rutted the head of his cock against her still-covered clit. “N- Nara- _sama_ ,” another breathless gasp. “Sh- **Shikamaru** , oh my fuck.”

Her dainty hands traveled down to his shoulders before she abruptly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her lover’s shoulders. Shikamaru continued rocking into her, his pace unrelenting as he relished in the helpless moans and whimpers escaping the conniving woman’s lips; they sounded so heady when paired with the way that she was trying to make him stop by calling his name.

“Do you want me to make you cum like this?” The Nara asked in a low and husky tone that sent shivers running down Yūna’s spine.

Yūna was so ashamed of how wanton she was acting, but she couldn’t help it. Her whole body **wanted** Shikamaru and the pleasure that he was providing; every last ounce of pleasure. With her eyes screwed shut, she curled her hands into her lover’s flak jacket and buried her flushed face into the crook of his neck. “Yes, please, Nara- _sama_.” 

“Such a needy woman,” the man chuckled breathlessly, even as his mind raced with the heady sense of pleasure that came with Yūna’s plea. He was **enjoying** her submission to him. He figured that it was one of the things that made him want to bury his cock so deep inside her until she memorized the very feel of him, but he would ponder on that later; **way later**.

He rutted unabashedly against her clothed core, making sure to hit her clit every single time— until her legs started quivering around his hips. A smug smirk crossed his lips as he reached up underneath her dress and bypassed her panties, before delving two fingers inside her tight cunt. Shikamaru made a ‘come hither’ motion with his digits and Yūna’s reaction was instantaneous. 

She tensed up against him at first, before the filthiest moan he’d ever heard escaped her lips. Her walls pulsed around Shikamaru’s fingers, and he had to close his eyes and hold himself back from pulling his cock out and pounding her into the next century.

Silence descended upon the couple as the raven-haired woman fell slack against her lover. However, he was **not** done with her; far from it, if her were being honest. The Nara pumped his fingers inside Yūna’s tight heat, curling his fingers against her g-spot, which made her hips start to jerk against him. She halfheartedly tried to stop him by sliding a hand down to grip his right forearm, but couldn’t do anything more than that; not with the way that his fingers kept deliciously moving in and out of her.

Once the raven-haired male’s thumb started playing with her clit, all semblance of her illusionary reluctance was thrown out the proverbial window. Yūna’s second wave of release hit her as intensely at the first, maybe even a bit more intense than the first, because the term that left her lips made **all** of Shikamaru stand at attention. Hell, he felt his cock twitch in his pants.

“ ** _Goshujin-sama_**!”

The troublesome woman really was going to be the death of him. One of these days, she was going to do him in for good; but, for now, he was going to  **do** her good. “Keep calling me that. That was fucking hot, Yūna.”

Shikamaru was never really into dominance games or anything of the sort; as long as he got fucked once in a while, it was enough for him. He found asserting his dominance over someone else very tedious and not worth the effort, but that was before he had dreamt about the very woman in his arms **submitting** herself to him. After that dream of his, even the seemingly-innocent way that she referred to him as _Nara-sama_ made his dick stir in his pants. 

The fact that she **knew** that she was captivating didn’t help his predicament at all. She used that knowledge so flawlessly against him, even unknowingly, that even he was impressed with her conniving nature. Shikamaru wondered how deep that nature of hers went, but he simultaneously did and didn’t want to find out, because that only spelled more trouble for him. 

“Do you want me to fuck you here or on the bed?”

“Anywhere, _goshujin-sama_ , as long as you fuck me.” The reaply that escaped Yūna’s lips seemed to make something inside Shikamaru snap even further, because he haphazardly pulled his erection from his pants before delving it in her tight heat.

A loud moan reverberated off the walls, and Shikamaru was sure that anyone near his house would have heard Yūna but, frankly, he didn’t care. In fact, a small part of him **wanted** people to hear them having sex; that part of him wanted everyone to know that **he** was the one who was making her feel so good. It was dumb and very chauvinistic of him, yet he couldn’t give a flying fuck about it.

“I want you let everyone know how good I’m making you feel,” Shikamaru rasped against Yūna’s ear. He lightly thrusted his cock in her, to tease her, only to roughly bite down on his bottom lip to suppress the loud moan that was bubbling up in his throat.

“ _Hai_ , _goshujin-sama_ ,” the Ueno heiress answered breathlessly. Her mind had gone blissfully blank the moment Shikamaru put his cock inside her, but now it was being filled with nothing but thoughts of him. It was scaring her, just how much Shikamaru was affecting her, but it was thrilling her at the same time. She had never felt so  **alive** while being with someone.

Handing him the reins for their tryst was scary and very uncomfortable for Yūna but, when she heard his steady voice and experienced the sure way that he was handling her, she submitted completely to him. She had always known that she was a submissive person in bed, but not once had she found the right person to let that aspect of her show. But with him… she couldn’t even begin to describe the easiness of letting that controlling and headstrong façade of hers dissolve into the background.

“When you call me that, it makes me want to keep my cock buried inside you.” Shikmaru whispered gruffly, all while starting to get into a good rhythm for his thrusts. Their skin slapping together, as well as the squelching sound of his cock going in and out of her sopping cunt, echoed in the room. It was like heady music to the Nara clan head.

“Please, _goshujin-sama_.”

“Please what? You have to tell me, Yūna.” A forceful thrust punctuated his sentence.

“Keep your cock buried inside me. I’ll be your fuck toy. Please.”

A smirk crossed the raven-haired male’s lips. “My fuck toy, huh?"  
  
“Yes, _goshujin-sama_. I’ll do anything.” 

“Anything?”

That seemed to break Yūna from her lust-induced reverie, but she still found herself nodding. Shikamaru paused in his movements, which made the woman in his arms let out a quiet mewl of protest, only to moan when Shikamaru brought his hand down to the side of her right ass cheek. Neither of them were expecting the slap, but it was clear that both of them enjoyed the sensation that came with it.

The Nara tossed and turned his proposition inside his head, but thought better of it in the end. Their agreement was still fairly new, and he didn’t want Yūna to go running back to _Tsukigakure_ while branding him as an insatiable pervert if he asked her to let him fuck her ass— out of sheer curiosity, of course.

“Let me get back to you on that,” the Nara muttered under his breath, and amped up his thrusting even more when he saw that his lover was about to ask what had been on his mind. His plan worked, because Yūna had thrown her head back against the wall and had started clawing at his back and shoulders as he fucked her into the wall.

 

***

 

Shikamaru couldn’t count how many times he had fucked Yūna and came inside her. All he was sure of was that his entire body felt like it had been through ten bouts of intense training sessions, and that both of them were so blissed out— evidenced by the fact that both of them were snuggled together in his _futon_ , with his blanket draped over the two of them. 

Yūna was sound asleep, making barely any sound aside from her light breathing. She didn’t even move from her spot plastered against Shikamaru’s side, with her left arm tucked against her body, while her right arm was draped over her lover’s torso.

Even if Shikamaru’s eyes were so heavy with fatigue, he refused to let them close— always promising himself to stay awake for _‘just five more minutes’_ , because he was enjoying the feel of running his fingers through the conniving woman’s hair.

 _Just a few more minutes_. The Nara thought to himself as he let his eyes drift closed.

 

***

 

The light of the full moon cast an eerie glow over everything it touched in Shikamaru’s room; including the man himself, and the woman who lay awake beside him. Even though the night air was chilly, borderline biting, it was a welcome sensation to the Ueno heiress. It reminded her of the nights when her parents would wake her to teach her about their clan’s jutsu.

Their marriage was arranged out of convenience— what with her mother’s unrivaled ability to make seals. ‘ _Almost as good as an Uzumaki_ ,’ her father would often say fondly while looking at his wife. She kept his own monsters at bay, and that was all he had asked of her at first, until genuine feelings had blossomed from their simple arrangement.

Her parents’ story was the envy of most of the women in their village. A _kunoichi_ from an ally village being coerced into an arranged marriage, only to find true happiness— within a prominent family, to boot. Not every woman wanted the easy way out, but most would admit that it was an ideal option.

Yūna sighed softly as she let her gaze fall on her hand that was resting flush against Shikamaru’s chest. It rose and fell with his even breaths, until his breathing ceased for a fraction of a second. Her grey eyes flickered up to his face, only to see that his features were twisted in pain. He was having a nightmare.

She wasn’t selfish by any means but, with a reluctant push to her limbs, she raised her left hand and pressed two chakra-laced fingertips to the middle of his forehead. Instantaneously, his features relaxed and his breathing evened out once more.

A cold chill ran through the raven-haired woman’s veins, and she flinched as she gingerly pushed herself up from her spot beside Shikamaru. Not even a minute had passed until the cold chill turned into a searing heat— flowing throughout her entire body until it gathered at her back. Yūna’s lungs tried to fight through the pain pushing down on them, which resulted in choppy and uneven gasps of breath.

The Ueno turned her head to the side, in an effort to see the extent of the number on her back, but saw nothing more than the tail end of the seal that was branded on to her skin. It was a fiery red color, indicating the extent with which she had used the _mugen_ ’s abilities. Yellow meant she hadn’t used it much, orange for moderate usage, and red for borderline overuse. She was just thankful that it wasn’t black; because she didn’t think that she could suppress the urge to scream with that much pain coursing through her system.

It only happened once a month, like a cleansing of sorts and it hurt like hell, but she would take the pain instead of traversing through the dream plane every year and sacrificing a piece of her soul to appease her clan’s forest guardians— the very beings that gifted her family with the _mugen_.

“Yūna.” The raspy call of her name, paired with the warm hand on her thigh made the woman jump. She immediately forced her concealment technique over the throbbing seal on her back, and moved to straddle the Nara clan head’s lap.

“Yes, _goshujin-sama_?” She asked softly, almost as if she was afraid of ruining the tranquil silence.

“What are you doing up?” Shikamaru asked just as quietly as she did, then put his hands on either side of her face to pull her down for a lascivious kiss.

“Waiting for you to wake up and fuck me.”

Shikamaru didn’t believe that one bit, but decided to let it go for now. He didn’t want to cause an argument after such a mind blowing turn of events. “Well then, let’s fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Thank you for reading this!  
> I'll try to get back to your comments when I have a spare moment, but please know that I appreciate each and every one of your feedback. They make me so happy, even if they're just short lines indicating your feelings or feels, whichever. >:D  
> Thank you so, so much!!!!! <3
> 
> Also, yay! I managed to add in more of the plot. Finally. <3 AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT TTHEM FINALLY DOING THE DO. OMF. FINA-FUCKING-LY, SHIKAMARU. :D


	12. 143 - 12

To say that Shikamaru was insatiable was an **understatement**.

Every moment that he got, he would pull Yūna to him and instigate things between them. Of course, Yūna wasn’t faultless in all that was happening. She let it happen, mostly putting the blame on the dominant vibes coming off of Shikamaru in waves; when in reality, she was just as bad as he was.

And that was the reason why both of them were late to the meeting with the Hokage and his esteemed guests— the _Kazekage_ and his siblings.

“We apologize for being late, Hokage- _sama_ ,” Yūna apologized sincerely with a deep bow.  “It was incredibly irresponsible of us to lose track of the time.”

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow at the raven-haired woman, before cracking a sly smile that told her that he **knew** the exact reason why she and Shikamaru were late. That theory was only evidenced further by his words. “I’ll let it go this time, since you two have recently gotten engaged and are.. well…” His smile widened into a grin, as his eyes glinted with mischievous humor. “Just don’t let it happen again.”

“ _Hai_ , Hokage- _sama_ ,” Yūna and Shikamaru answered simultaneously before taking their seats adjacent from the  _Kazekage_ and his blonde sister.

Once Yūna sat down, though, her eyes widened and she held back a gasp of surprise when she felt Shikamaru’s cum from earlier drenching her panties. Shikamaru’s brown eyes flickered towards her, only to be met by her subtle glare. It was all his fault that she couldn’t clean herself up before he _shunshin_ -ed them all the way to the bottom of the Hokage’s office.

“I’m filthy,” Yūna mouthed to the Nara beside her, hoping to the gods that the knuckles pressed against the side of her mouth were enough to conceal her lips from being read.

Unfortunately for them, Temari and Kakashi could read their conversation easily.

Shikamaru smirked. “Yes, you are.”

“Fuck you.”

“Later, Yūna.” A little squeak of pain left his lips after that comeback, because the raven-haired woman had reached over and pinched his thigh none-too-gently.

“If you two would be so kind as to keep your flirtations at the bare minimum,” Kakashi spoke up, with humor coloring his tone. “We have important matters to discuss.”

The couple inched away from each other, but not without narrowing their eyes at the other.

 

***

 

Temari’s first impression of the Ueno woman was that she was a loose-lipped hussy that slept with everything that had legs. It had **nothing** to do with the fact that she was having serious bouts of _‘that should be me’_ thoughts running through her head; nothing at all. But she was surely surprised when their meeting with the Hokage had taken a turn to trade routes with _Tsukigakure_.

Yūna had been quiet for the beginning stages of the meeting, since the topics mostly had to do with strengthening the ties between Konoha, Suna, and the other _shinobi_ villages within the Land of Fire. However, when Kakashi broached the subject of the possibility of trading with _Tsuki_ for medicinal and mineral needs, she had slipped into a poker-faced mask as she assessed the good and bad points of their offers.

“Yes, the added business would be beneficial to _Tsuki_ , Hokage- _sama_ , but the trade routes going to _Suna_ are too dangerous for just one _shinobi_ escort.” Yūna readjusted herself in her seat, and resisted the urge to flinch when she felt the wetness in her panties. She seriously wanted to hit Shikamaru, but she could do that later. “The trade route going here to _Konoha_ is much safer to travel, even with the low-level bandits and pilferers along the way, but _Suna_ is a whole new game for us. 

“My clan provides the herbs and minerals that our village trades, so the responsibility of guarding it is **our** concern. Should anything happen to the shipment, it wouldn’t be good with all the costs, which is why we send members of our clan to serve as the escorts for those trips. However, I—nor my brothers or father— am **not** willing to risk my clan members’ lives for the sake of profit.” Yūna steepled her fingers in her lap as she regarded both the _Kage_ s in the room. 

Kakashi and Gaara exchanged a look, before Gaara nodded. “I understand. Would it suffice if I sent a team of _Suna_ nin to escort your people?”

Yūna was expecting that offer, and she fought hard to suppress the smile threatening to tug at the corners of her lips. They were playing perfectly well with her plan. “Yes, _Godaime_ - _sama_. However, if we were to take the cost of sending an escort team into consideration, it would only add to the overall cost of getting the shipment to _Suna_. My people are greatly compensated for their efforts, and that is a cost that I am willing to shoulder…”

“ _Suna_ will cover the cost of the escort team that we will send,” Gaara grunted out with narrowed eyes. He looked so unnervingly at her that it made Yūna sweat a little, but she had caught on to his little game of intimidation. He was trying to intimidate her into backing down. 

Well, if he thought that she would be swayed so easily, he was mistaken. The Ueno heiress met his gaze head-on, before briefly flashing her _mugen_ at him. The _Kazekage_ flinched, then turned his gaze to Shikamaru, who was watching the exchange with focused eyes.

The raven-haired woman didn’t know what Gaara just saw, but she was sure that it wasn’t his greatest fear— whatever that was— because she made sure not to cause an all-out war between their villages, on the count of attempted murder.

“Yūna,” the Nara clan head warned his lover under his breath. She gave him a mere side glance before going right back to negotiating prices and bartering for other goods for her own village. Her attitude irked Shikamaru to no end but, at the same time, it made him so hot for her. The fact that he had seen and experienced her submission first hand was enough to make him wait to really let her have it; later, when they were home and within the privacy of his room.

  
***

 

Once the meeting was done and all the promises of presenting written agreements to be signed in two-days’ time was made, Kakashi dismissed Yūna and the _Kazekage_ ’s siblings. It left Gaara and Shikamaru to handle business with the _Rokudaime_ , which made the Nara— admittedly— a bit apprehensive that his messy fling from back then would finally get some time with his present… **fiancée**? **Fling? Girlfriend? Lover?** He didn’t even know anymore. 

“Be nice, Yūna,” Shikamaru bid quietly as he walked the Ueno heiress over to the ajar door that Temari and Kankuro had just exited.

“I’m always nice, Nara- _sama_.” And then, in a voice that was barely above a whisper, she added, “I was nice enough not to slap you when I felt your cum drenching my underwear.”

The raven-haired male stiffened at the admission, before he made a conscious effort to tamp down the lust that was stirring up within him. It wouldn’t be in good faith to face two villages’ leaders with a damn erection. “We’ll talk about that **later**. I’ll be home by seven.”

Yūna quirked a condescending eyebrow at her lover, then spoke with disdain dripping from her tone, “Do you expect me to sit at home and **wait** for you like a good little **wife**?”

“I… didn’t mean it like that." 

The raven-haired woman scoffed. Her irritation was slowly flaring up into mild anger; a feeling that she didn’t bother to suppress. “Then how did you mean it? Let me tell you this, Nara Shikamaru: you may be fucking me so good that you have me submitting to you in bed, but that does **not** mean that you own me.”

Shikamaru’s own anger flared at her response, but he resisted the urge to respond verbally, because he knew that there would be no end to it if he started an argument at that moment. He would let her cool down before he talked to her, even though the mere thought of trying to explain himself to her was too bothersome to deal with. He had to fix their little tiff if he wanted to keep getting some from the best lover he’d had, by far.

Instead, the Nara leaned forward and pressed an affectionate kiss to Yūna’s forehead. It made the conniving woman balk in surprise, but she didn’t say anything as she was herded out of the room— and then had the door promptly closed in her face.

Grey eyes could only blink slowly in confusion as the action set in. Yūna had it in her mind to blow the door open with a well-executioned ice spear, but thought better of it when she remembered that she was **not** in _Tsuki_. Anything that she would do here couldn’t be swept under the rug as easily as it did over there.

“I’d never seen him be so affectionate before.” Temari’s voice cut in to Yūna’s thoughts, which made the raven-haired woman pivot on her heel to face the blonde. “But it must be because you two will be married soon. Congratulations. I’m Temari, by the way.” 

The urge to raise both her eyebrows and make an incredulous expression at her lover’s past fling was a really difficult temptation to let go of, but Yūna ultimately chose to plaster a warm smile on her face before she bowed at the waist. Classy as hell in the face of adversity. “Everyone would know the _Kazekage_ ’s sister, Temari- _sama_. Thank you. Nara- _sama_ and I haven’t chosen a date yet, but we’ll be sure to send your clan a formal invitation.”

Yūna rose from her shallow bow and met Temari’s gaze head-on. Her smile didn’t even falter even when the other woman spoke, “You seriously call him Nara- _sama_?”

“Well, yes. It’s what my future husband wants me to call him… especially when we’re alone.” She let her warm smile curl up into a catty smirk, before she turned to Kankuro and offered him a quick but polite _ojigi_. “I do apologize, but I should be going now. I still have to send word to my clan to get the papers ready by tomorrow. Let’s talk more soon, _ne_?”

With that, the Ueno heiress traipsed away as breezily as she could. Her head was held high and her back was ramrod straight; it would have made her old tutors very proud. 

“Now I see why Shikamaru put a claim on her really quick,” Kankuro commented with a chortle, which earned him a glare from his sister.

Once she was far enough from both Kankuro and Temari, Yūna let a chuckle escape from her lips as she opened one of the windows that lined the quiet hallway. Oh, she was still pissed at Shikamaru for his words from earlier, but she couldn’t deny that the look of ill-concealed jealousy and rage on the blonde’s face was funny as hell. 

Her tongue darted out to wet her dry lips, before she puckered them together. She then started whistling a lilting tune that would have seemed like she was merely whistling an old song to a passerby when, to someone who knew of her clan’s birdsong language, it would be obvious that she was sending out an urgent message to whomever was there to whomever was at the main house.

“Hey, you’re Shikamaru’s wife. Ueno Yūna, right?” A voice from behind Yūna startled her. She jolted in surprise and had pulled out a _senbon_ from the crescent moon-shaped pin that she had in her hair, only to turn around and relax when she saw that it was one of her lover’s friends.

“Not yet, but close enough. And you must be the one who told everyone in Konoha that there’s going to be an heir to the Nara clan **very soon**. Uzumaki Naruto, right?” She replied, chuckling when she saw the pink tinge on the blond’s cheeks. “Don’t worry about it. People would have talked either way.”

“Wow. You’re pretty cool. Shikamaru always says how scary you are, and how much of a drag your mood swings are,” Naruto commented happily, and then smiled sheepishly when he realized what he had just said and done— which was potentially ruining his friend’s relationship.

But no. The Konoha _nin_ was proven wrong even more when a loud bout of giggles escaped Yūna’s lips. She had to be honest: Naruto was quite a humorous guy. He needed a brain-to-mouth filter, but he was funny. “It’s nice to know that I **do** scare him.”

For a moment, she wondered if she should have acted formally with him, since he was **_the_** hero that ultimately saved the world, but that idea went out the window when she remembered that this person had seen her _en flagrante delicto_ with Shikamaru, so there was no need for formalities. They had crossed that bridge **long ago** , even though this was the first time that she was actually talking to the blond. 

“So, what’re you doing here? Not to be rude or anything. If you’re looking for Shikamaru, he’s probably at Kakashi- _sensei_ ’s office.”

Yūna nodded. “I just got done with a meeting with them and the _Suna_ siblings.” A darker expression crossed her features and she gritted out through clenched teeth, “He closed the door in my face.”

“Oh, at least he didn’t slam it, right?” Naruto tried for a chuckle, and it sounded so forced and awkward that Yūna had to laugh and roll her eyes.

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm as she said, “Yeah, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if my beloved husband-to-be slammed the door in my face. Oh, the agony. But what about you? Are you here for a meeting with the _Rokudaime_?”

Naruto shook his head and held up his right arm, even going as far as to clench and unclench his hand. “I was getting Sakura to check on my arm, and I was on my way to get some _ramen_ at _Ichiraku_ ’s when I saw you- hey, do you want to go with me? Since Shikamaru won’t be done until later?”  
  
Yūna didn’t want to be rude, so she accepted the blond’s offer even though his words rubbed more salt into her proverbial wounds. Why did everyone assume that her life revolved around Shikamaru? She was new in town and he was **always** there, it would make sense to always be with him, but her life **did not revolve around him**. Not at all.

 

***

 

“ _Ne,_ Yūna- _chan_ , you were whistling when I saw you earlier. Were you just trying for a song or…” Naruto trailed off before he slurped a good amount of _ramen_ noodles into his mouth.

Yūna swallowed the _char siu_ in her mouth before answering him, “I was sending a message to my clan. It’s not exactly a secret that we know the birdsong language, but everyone is just too afraid to ask what we’re doing when we start whistling while looking up at the sky.”

“ **Birdsong**!? How does that even work? Can you understand the birds? Does your entire clan know the language? Do you summon birds when you use it? That’s so cool, Yūna- _chan_!” He was rambling a mile a minute with noodles still in his mouth, and the raven-haired woman couldn’t help but be reminded of her younger brother— Hisaki.

“Yes, yes, and no. Wherever my clan members go, there’s always a small flock of birds that follow us. We’re not sure how or why, but they do follow us.” That was a blatant lie. Yūna knew very well that the birds followed them because it was part of her clan’s agreement with the forest guardians. The family’s main protector was the spirit of a raven, and it only made sense for her ancestors to request a quick and covert means of delivering messages. “They teach us birdsong from a young age, and we’re encouraged to use it as often as we can.”

After that explanation, the pair lapsed into a comfortable silence that was often broken by Naruto asking mundane things about the language that was passed down in her clan— like how exclusive the ‘vocabulary’ was, how people knew who sent what, and other similar questions. He seemed to be so interested in birdsong that Yūna was **tempted** to offer to teach him, but it would take **years** before he could even string a phrase together.

Hell, she was fourteen when she managed to send out her first **understandable** message through the wren. Her first few attempts at it were abysmal; especially when she had sent out a message saying that _she had the **runs**_ instead of _she **had to run**_. Her gastrointestinal state served as quite the ammunition for her brothers for weeks. 

Besides, even though she was feeling kind, and patient, enough to impart her knowledge to Naruto, she was bound by clan laws to never let an outsider learn how to use the Ueno clan’s version of the birdsong. She could only teach it to her future husband and her future children— no more and no less.

 _So Shikamaru and our kids_. The thought made her freeze mid-slurp of her noodles, before she banished the unbidden idea to the farthest corner of her mind. She was **not** touching that thought with a ten-foot pole. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello, everyone! Thank you soooo much for the support and the kudos and the comments! <3
> 
> Also, I kind of don't want Temari to be a bitchy ex, but we'll see how this pans out. What do you guys think, though? A little rivalry would be nice and all, and would be really good for character development, but it's too cliché.


	13. 143 - 13

When Shikamaru got home that night, it was to an empty house. He was expecting his mother to be gone, since she had said that she was going to be volunteering at the hospital with a few of her friends, but he wasn’t expecting Yūna to still have been out and about. Ever since the war ended, his mother had taken to doing so much more humanitarian volunteer works to keep her mind off of Shikaku’s passing.

It was a somewhat healthy way of coping, since Shikamaru didn’t see his mother doing anything self-destructive. They had accepted his father’s death long ago, but he would be lying if he said that staying cooped up at home didn’t bring back so many memories of him. He was just glad that their old house had taken such a number from the war that renovations wouldn’t have been enough to make it livable.

Setting foot in the same old house that sheltered so many of his memories of his father would have hurt too much. Though, Shikamaru kept the hand-painted _fusuma_ in the _shogi_ room— to have a few good memories of Shikaku tied to the new house.

He didn’t know how many times he’d counted all of the deer painted on to the _fusuma_ ; he had tried to be **patient** and wait for Yūna to fix whatever the issue was with them, but she was just taking too long. He had been sitting in the _shogi_ room and playing the game by himself for **hours** , until he had succumbed to counting deer to amuse himself. 

 _We’re not even **really** engaged, but she has me waiting up for her like it’s the real deal. _Kami-sama _help me_. Shikamaru wasn’t disillusioned or naïve, he was more baffled by the label of his and Yūna’s relationship (or lack thereof) as the next person. He didn’t know why he even **cared** to make things right with her, but he did. He cared so damn much about how she felt towards him, with the pretense of doing so because he wanted to keep ‘ _getting some’_ from her. That was one of the reasons, but it wasn’t the **only** reason.

He would sooner blow off half of his clan’s fortune on useless shit than admit that he had a crush on the troublesome woman. 

Unfortunately for him, his mind wasn’t in congruence with his body— because he found himself getting up, rather impatiently, from the floor and padding over to the _shoji_ that led to the _engawa_. He froze and his ears perked up when he heard the front door opening, though. He immediately stomped over towards that direction.

“Yūna, do you have **any** idea what time it is?” The question was out of Shikamaru’s mouth before he snapped it shut. A blush crawled up to his cheeks and settled there as he averted his gaze from the blonde woman that was pinning him with her gaze.

“Are you her father or her fiancé?” Temari asked with a sardonic tone. She was close to scoffing, but settled for narrowing her eyes at the man in front of her. Her grip on the papers in her hand tightened, and she resisted the urge to shove them at Shikamaru to hurt him— at least physically, if not emotionally.

Silence greeted her query, and the blonde’s lips twisted into a wry smirk. “She really must be something if she has you so worried, **Nara- _sama_.”**

Shikamaru swallowed past the lump in his throat. He wanted to tell Temari to never refer to him like **that** ever again, but he could only be setting himself up for embarrassment if she claimed to have used it out of good manners. He wanted to make it known to the woman in front of him that there was only one woman who could call him that and elicit so many feelings from him all at once, and that woman wasn’t her.

He didn’t know how long they stood there with nothing but a thick and awkward silence filling the air between them, when he heard the light padding of Yūna’s feet against the hardwood floor.

“What’s taking so long, _goshujin-sama_? I need you.” The sultry tone in Yūna’s voice made shivers run down Shikamaru’s spine. His blood immediately pooled down south, and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from grabbing her and pinning her to the nearest flat surface. 

He turned to look at her, and his eyes almost bugged out of his head when he saw the **downright sinful** look that she sported. Her hair was artfully tussled and her clothes seemed as if they were halfway into the process of being ripped off— as evidenced by one side of Yūna’s _kimono_ leaving her left shoulder exposed. It made Shikamaru so hot for her, and the armada of love bites that were on display added even more to that. “Oh, we have a guest. Let me get some tea ready.”

From the corner of his eye, the Nara saw Yūna seamlessly smile at Temari as she pulled up the half of her outfit that was exposing her skin. Then, as she turned to walk away, she spoke, “I’ll be out with tea and snacks in a minute, _goshujin-sama_. Temari- _sama_.”

Shikamaru didn’t know where his lover had come from and how she had known that Temari was there, but he couldn’t deny that what had just transpired was one of the most arousing things to ever happen to him. He wanted to tell Temari that she could go, so that he could fuck his fiancée into the next century, but whatever she came to his house for must have been important enough to resort to trespassing.

 

***

 

The spread that Yūna had prepared was worthy of an award, if she could say so herself. She wasn’t one to resort to tooting her own horn, but she wanted to do it just that one time. A _kunoichi_ had to be resourceful as hell, and she had made the most of what she had found in the kitchen— including the snacks that she had brought for herself from _Tsuki._ She put all of the items in plain white, porcelain dishes and bowls: from the _ichigo daifuku_ , to the _konpeito_ (that she had been saving for when her cravings arose), and to the _monaka_ that she had brought all the way from _Tsuki_ and had given to Yoshino as a gift.

She would have to get more of those sent over to replace the ones that she had just served to Temari.

“This really isn’t necessary,” Temari protested quietly. She was sitting across from Shikamaru and eyeing the traditional tea ceremony implements that Yūna had just brought in without a word. She had brought a carafe of hot water, instead of bringing a clay stove and kettle in, but it was still enough to unnerve the blonde woman. She didn’t know just how far the Ueno’s ‘perfect wife’ qualities went, but this had to top the proverbial cake.

 ** _She even knows how to do a tea ceremony. What the actual hell?_** Shikamaru yelled incredulously in his mind. He had an inkling that Yūna was perfectly raised as a traditional lady of the house, but he didn’t think that she would go this far. Hell, his mother didn’t even put in this much effort for their other guests.

And that’s when it hit him: this was Yūna’s version of a power play. He had to bite back a smirk when he saw the subtle smile that graced her downturned face. If he didn’t know any better, he would say that she was **jealous**. It was a barely perceptible kind of jealousy, but it was **there**. That made his heart beat faster in his chest: from apprehension or excitement, he didn’t know.

All of Yūna’s movements were assured and precise. Not once did she falter or second guess herself, all the way from purifying the tea elements to serving the _matcha_. Once she was done making two servings, though, she deviated from tradition and moved to sit down beside Shikamaru.

“This is really good, Ueno- _san_ ,” Temari complimented halfheartedly, which Yūna returned with a warm smile and a quiet word of thanks. 

“You didn’t make one for yourself,” Shikamaru pointed out, as he held his tea bowl up to his lover’s lips. “Have some of mine.” 

Yūna’s gaze clashed with Shikamaru’s, and she narrowed her grey eyes by a barely perceptible amount. It wasn’t lost on the raven-haired male, though, because he narrowed his eyes back at her and pressed the edge of the bowl against his lover’s bottom lip.

Not wanting to make a scene and ruin the lovey-dovey façade that she had set, the Ueno heiress acquiesced. She let Shikamaru tilt the bowl to allow her a sip of the tea that she had made. She couldn’t help but smile, though, because drinking **exceptional** tea just had that effect on her. People smiled when they ate or drank something that they loved, and that something was tea for Yūna.

“There’s that smile.” The words escaped Shikamaru’s lips before he could stop them, and he was afraid that Yūna was going to throttle him for saying something so… **sappy** , but she merely blinked and looked away from him as he retracted his hand with the bowl of tea. But… **_was that a blush on her cheeks!?_**

“I’m sure that Temari- _sama_ has urgent matters to share,” Yūna muttered. “I can come back later if it doesn’t require my presence.”

“Ah, um, no. It’s our part of the contract from earlier,” Temari answered, after setting down her empty bowl and gathering up the sheaf of paper that she had placed beside her on the _tatami_ floor.

“Wow. That was quick. I only just got word from my clan that my part of the contract will be sent by tomorrow morning.” The raven-haired woman’s words were honest and far from condescending, but it still rubbed Temari the wrong way. Maybe it was just her own biased feelings, but she didn’t like the way that the Ueno lady spoke. 

Temari merely nodded as she handed two copies to the couple across from her. She didn’t want to look at them for as long as she **had** to. Hell, she knew that it never would have worked with Shikamaru, but the blonde couldn’t suppress the feelings of jealousy that she was feeling. She **wanted** to be Yūna, all because she was the one who was going to have the happy ending that she had always wanted with the Nara.

She wanted a happy ending of her own.

“Why her?” Temari wanted to smack herself, because she had uttered the words that had been burning in her mind ever since she had heard the news that Shikamaru was engaged.

Yūna froze midway into flipping a page of the contract, then let the sheet of paper fall as she quietly leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss to Shikamaru’s cheek. The raven-haired woman was befuddled by her actions, but her gut instinct was screaming at her to stake a claim to Shikamaru before she left the room. She was feeling so damn possessive over him, and she could only chalk it up to— dare she admit it— jealousy. “I think you two need to talk about this in private. I’ll get ready for bed, _goshujin-sama_. Thank you for the visit, Temari- _sama_.”

Once Yūna was out of the room, the blonde woman cast her a tight, unreadable look before he turned back to her former fling. “I didn’t mean to cause a problem.”

Shikamaru was having none of her fluffy words and woe-is-me excuses, though; and he felt that there were lots of those coming at him if he didn’t nip things in the bud. “The way we started our relationship wasn’t romantic at all, if that’s what you’re thinking. There were no flowers or courting, or anything of the sort. But, despite all that…”

Was he really ready to admit it aloud? It would be like **accepting** his fate; his fate of being heartbroken when she left at the end of the month. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what to do after their arrangement was done. They’d only been together for a few days, but he couldn’t deny all the facts.

“She’s perfect for me.”

That claim was like a slap to the face for Temari, but she knew when she was defeated. Part of her wanted to keep pestering him until she wore him down into leaving her, but another part of her knew that her conscience wouldn’t be able to bear with the guilt of ruining something that Shikamaru **actually** felt strongly for.

“Would it be desperate to say that I would still wait for you, if… well, if things don’t work out between the two of you?”

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Shikamaru still found himself shaking his head. It shouldn’t have been ‘ _if’,_ it should have been _‘when’_ she left him. “Don’t, Temari.”

“Is it always going to be her?”

Shikamaru pondered that question. His heart started beating rapidly in his chest, until it had just stopped— as a deafening high-pitched noise rang in his ears with the realization of his feelings. His answer was so quiet that the blonde had to strain to hear his words. “Yeah, I’m afraid so.”

 

***

 

Shikamaru was so tired from that little hurdle. It was as if he had gone through a dozen S-ranked rogue _nin_ when, in reality, the real extent of his feelings for Yūna were just laid bare. He had half a mind to go to the troublesome woman’s room and sleep there, but he changed his mind when he was about to open her door.

He was in for a surprise, though, when he opened the _shoji_ to his own room and saw the very woman plaguing his thoughts snuggled under his covers— sound asleep with her arms wrapped tightly around his pillow. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t tamp down the smile that made its way to his lips.

In record time, he had showered and gotten ready for bed. That was how badly he **wanted** to be near Yūna. He was sure that he didn’t **love** her; not yet, anyway. But he was well on his way to that last level of hell. 

Yūna had a tight grip on Shikamaru’s pillow, that he had a hard time prying it out of her arms. But when she opened her eyes a fraction of an inch and saw that it was her lover that was bothering her fitful slumber, she relinquished her hold on the fluffy bed item. Instead, her half-groggy mind waited until he was settled, with his arm around her, to wrap herself around him.

She knew that she was being very clingy and letting her jealousy get the better of her, but she had to be honest with herself: it calmed her heart to know that despite the offers that Temari had probably shoved at him, he still came back to **her**.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! I just got done writing this (and lost track of time in the process, but what the hey, I'll sleep when I'm dead). Thank you so much for the comments!!!!! I'll try to get back to you guys asap.
> 
> But yes, all that fluff and the feelings, and realizations like oh my. <3


	14. 143 - 14

“And where were you last night?” Shikamaru snapped irately as he moved his cock in and out of his lover. Morning sex was steadily becoming one of his favorite routines; it almost made waking up early worth it. **Almost**.

Yūna scowled at the Nara and dug her nails into his shoulders in retaliation. “Out. But I- **oh _kami-sama_ , right there**. I don’t see how it’s your business.”

“It **is** my business while you’re here.” The raven-haired male was scowling so hard despite the immense pleasure that was coursing throughout his system. Still, he kept pounding Yūna into his _futon_ , as if they weren’t in the midst of a heated argument.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“ **Yes. It. Is.** ” His every word was punctuated with a forceful thrust that was hard enough to move the raven-haired woman a few inches up the bedding. Until one last thrust had her cunt spasming so deliciously around his cock, which triggered his own release.

Shikamaru was just about to claim Yūna’s lips in another make out session, when the telltale sound of nails scratching incessantly against wood sounded in the room. Both _nin_ jumped up into action, despite their nakedness; with Yūna at the ready for a water release technique with one hand seal ready, and Shikamaru ready to use his shadow _jutsu_ at any second. 

It wasn’t until a soft yelp— it could only be described as that— made Yūna drop her hand seal and hurriedly throw the blanket over her shoulders. The Nara was obviously confused at his lover’s actions, but made no move to stop her as she hastened over to one of the open windows. 

After poking her head out and checking to see if her guess was right, it was with a happy shout that Yūna exclaimed, “Taro!”

With an enthusiastic snort, the grey-colored dog padded over to the open window where his mistress was waiting for him. Yūna made sure that the blanket was secure around her shoulders before she leaned halfway out the window and instructed the pup to jump in her arms. 

The wind was knocked out of her when Taro landed in her arms. “You’ve gotten heavier. Have you been asking Tsujiri- _sensei_ for more food again, _ne_?”

Silence engulfed the room, save for Taro’s loud snorts as Yūna hugged him tight and rubbed his body affectionately. She then felt around the collar at his neck before unlatching a small scroll. After pushing a bit of chakra into the tiny object, it grew into a regular-sized carrying scroll. 

“Did they make him deliver the papers?” Shikamaru asked curiously as he pulled his boxers on. No matter how comfortable he was with being naked around Yūna, he wasn’t going to be naked with the dog’s grey eyes on him.

Yūna nodded, then set her companion down on the floor, where he scurried over to her discarded pile of clothes before burrowing in them like a makeshift bed. “Yeah, it’s one of his duties as my companion. I didn’t want him to go out until he was a year old, but my older brothers said that their companions were delivering important mail at four months old.” 

“Well, Akamaru’s always been with Kiba, so I guess four months isn’t a big deal. I don’t get what you’re so worried about.” 

The Ueno heiress rolled her eyes at that sentiment. “You’ll understand once you have a little thing of your own to take care of— like a child.” 

Yūna’s comment was said without any further meaning in mind, but it still made both her and Shikamaru freeze in their tracks. They exchanged a quick look, then **tried** to go on with what they were about to do, which was get ready for the day. 

After clearing his throat, albeit a bit awkwardly, Shikamaru spoke, “Speaking of… children,” he had almost tripped on the word, but managed to play it off as if he wasn’t panicking in his head. Cumming in Yūna was one of the most amazing feelings in all the Lands, but he was **nowhere near** ready to have a child. “I… we… uh- you know.”

Thankfully for him, the raven-haired woman decided to have mercy on his battered soul, and answered his implied question. “I drink a special tea that acts as a contraceptive. I take it once a month on the morning of the twenty-ninth day, and I’m all set. So, rest easy, Nara- _sama_.”

Shikamaru was equal parts relieved and saddened by the admission. He didn’t even want to dwell on the latter emotion, since that was just going to be a clusterfuck of troublesome thoughts. “Okay, that’s good to know.”

  
“Now that the subject of my non-pregnancy is out of the way, do you think that _Yakiniku-Q_ will let us in if we bring Taro with us? You have some weight here in the village, right? Can you pull some strings for us?” He was about to say no, but her added words partnered with that pleading expression on her face got to him. “Please, _goshujin-sama_?”

 

***

 

And that was how Shikamaru found himself lugging around a thirty-pound dog— that should have really been considered _Tonton_ ’s brother. He had seen Yūna struggling to carry Taro, and had taken the dog from her arms, with a halfhearted question of, _‘Doesn’t he follow you around everywhere?’_  

To which Yūna had responded with, _‘Yes. But I don’t want people to step on him. You won’t understand.’_

She was right; Shikamaru **didn’t** understand what the hell she was thinking, but he kept his mouth shut and endured the burden of carrying something so heavy. It was good exercise, even with the chakra he was pushing to his arms, but he didn’t dare hold back all the curses flying around in his head. 

He didn’t even know why he was putting in all this effort for her in the first place. Did he want to admit what was pushing him to make the effort? No. **Hell no**. He didn’t even want to **think** about it. 

Unbeknownst to Shikamaru, Yūna wasn’t as clueless as she was making herself seem. She had picked up on his sudden chivalry from the very moment that they had walked down the stairs. She had staggered a bit while holding Taro in her right arm, and Shikamaru had immediately turned back to her and assisted her by the elbow. It wasn’t the most romantic gesture in the universe— and it made her feel like an old lady that needed help— but it was so unlike him to do so that it brought another covert smile to her lips.

“ _Oi_ , what are you smiling at?” Shikamaru asked gruffly as he narrowed his eyes at his lover. He hadn’t wanted to wipe away the serene expression on her face, but there was a tiny, niggling voice in his head tearing at his self-confidence. It kept telling him that she was laughing **at him** , and not something else entirely.

The Nara wasn’t really one to take offense easily to anything; he was almost unflappable, which irritated those that tried to get on his nerves— but Yūna… did he even need to say more? At that point, he was afraid that he was sounding more and more like a broken record.

He **needed** some alcohol in his system before he would willingly break down that thought. Probably enough alcohol to knock out an entire village.

“Why? Is it suddenly a mortal offense to smile?” The woman answered cattily, then reached over to pat Taro on the head. She made sure to scratch behind his ears, to which the Tonton-sized dog reacted to by leaning into her touch. 

Shikamaru didn’t blame the pup, he would lean in to Yūna’s touch too, if it were him. _Lucky bastard_. He thought to himself with a sardonic smile.

 

***

 

As it turned out, Shikamaru didn’t have that much of a pull in the village. No pets meant **NO PETS** at the restaurant, which was why they had resorted to getting their meals to-go. It was shitty at best, but it was all they could do to accommodate Taro. Yūna promptly silenced Shikamaru’s suggestion of leaving the dog outside with a glare so intense that it made his skin crawl.

And that was how they found themselves sat under a cluster of trees near the Nara compound, eating from takeout boxes.

“Do you want more pork, Taro?” The raven-haired woman cooed affectionately at her companion. She then picked up a few slices of _yakiniku_ from the container between her and Shikamaru, before dropping them in the makeshift plate that they had sacrificed one container for. 

“He’s already big enough.” Shikamaru commented flippantly. He didn’t mean to offend **anyone** , but Yūna acted as if she hadn’t said the same thing earlier.

“ **You’re** big enough.” She snarled in response.

A wide smirk graced Shikamaru’s lips. “Yeah, my cock is. Big and hard for you.”

“Don’t taint Taro’s hearing with your filthy slur.” 

Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow at her. The smirk never left his lips. “He should hear **you** when we’re having sex.” 

That shut Yūna up. She floundered a bit for a comeback, but never came up with anything, so she just resumed piling more pork onto Taro’s plate with her chopsticks. Needless to say, she reallyhated losing at **anything** ; even something as trivial as a verbal argument. 

“Why are you so quiet now?” 

No response from the irate woman, which had Shikamaru sighing in exasperation. _Were all women really **this** complicated?_ 

 _No. Hell no. Yūna was the exception._ “Are you ignoring me?”

Still no response from the raven-haired woman. “ _Mendokusai._ ”

With another sigh, Shikamaru gave up on trying to cajole his lover into responding, then dug back in to his meal. Silence blanketed over their small group, with only the sounds of Taro’s chewing and the occasional titter of a passerby breaking the tense stillness. 

Usually, the Nara basked in silence as he watched the clouds on his hill, but this was another thing entirely. No matter how hard he tried to push down the itching feeling inside him that wanted to apologize to Yūna, he **couldn’t**. He just couldn’t ignore his inner need to make things right with her.

He **wanted** to apologize, damn it, and it wasn’t even his fault.

And so, just as he was about to open his mouth, he snapped it shut and, instead, pinned his gaze on his lover’s face. He stared her down until she looked up at him, and that’s when he moved.

Shikamaru leaned forward and bridged the small gap between him and Yūna. He pressed his lips to hers in an apologetic gesture, which— admittedly— made the Ueno heiress’ heart falter in her chest.

No further words were needed. The raven-haired woman knew exactly what her lover meant with the kiss, and that fact made it all the more difficult to tamp down the fluttery feeling in her stomach. She wanted to push him away, but her body worked against her and deepened the kiss.

Just as Shikamaru was about to throw all propriety to the wind and push his lover down to the ground, a long string of cat calls sounded from across their spot. The cat calls were then followed by cheers of _‘Yeah! Way to get started on those heirs, Shikamaru!’_ ,and the like. It made him and Yūna pull away from each other and simultaneously turn their attention to the source of the jeers.

At the sight of the Nara’s glare, Kiba and Chōji balked, before sidling away while they still could. Nothing good would come from ‘poking the bear’, so to speak.

“Come on, let’s go home. I still have things to send back home.” Yūna spoke with a slight smile on her lips. She had to admit that Shikamaru was **kind of** cute when he got all irritated. 

The words made the Nara perk up. _Home_. _With Yūna_. He liked the sound of that, maybe more than he should have. “Yeah, let’s go home.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry if it's shorter than the others. :< And sorry if I still haven't been able to get back to your comments. I've just been so caught up in so many things that I haven't had the time to do anything outside of my routine.
> 
> I will try to get back to you guys soon, but please know that I appreciate each and every one of your kudos' and comments. Thank you so, so much! <3


	15. 143 - 15

“Would it be too much if I brought snacks to the meeting?” Yūna asked aloud as she eyed the array of snacks that her eldest brother— Akira— had included in the carrying scroll he’d sent via Taro. True to their polite nature, he had sent **a lot** of snacks to give out. It was way too much food for three people to eat, even for an entire month. 

Shikamaru looked up from his breakfast— some fruity tea that Yūna had brewed, as well as a couple of pieces of _ichigo daifuku_. It wasn’t the ideal breakfast, but it was what Yūna wanted to eat, and ended up pushing over to him after she ate **one**. “It won’t hurt.”

 _Except it **will** hurt. Temari’s pride, that is._The Ueno thought to herself with a catty smirk on her face. Only to have the smirk replaced by a relieved smile when a couple of wrens landed on the open window and started singing. 

“What’s with the smile?” 

Yūna took a few boxes of snacks and stacked them neatly, then turned to Shikamaru. “Aki- _nii_ just told me that Taro made it back safely. Very hungry, but safe.”

“Well, that’s good. You really should put him on a diet, though. He’s going to get too big to carry around.” The Nara commented good-naturedly, to which his lover responded with a halfhearted nod.

“I **should** , but I can’t resist that face.” She smiled once more, then turned back to the snacks that she was packing for their meeting with the _Hokage_ and the _Kazekage_. “Admit it, even you snuck him a snack before he left.”

The raven-haired male froze, but tried to get himself to act as naturally as he could. He’d be damned if he admitted the truth. It was more than a snack; it was a second dinner of rice and the chicken curry that his mother had made. 

Maybe he had grown a bit fond of the dog after lugging him around all day. Just a bit.

 

***

 

“It’s too bright and hot.” Yūna whined under her breath as she shielded her face from the sun with her right hand. “How could you wear a flak jacket in this heat?”

Shikamaru couldn’t help but chuckle as he walked a few steps ahead of his lover. Once he saw that he was blocking most of the sunlight from her face, he matched his pace in time with hers to keep her shielded from the sunlight. “It’s much hotter here than up in _Tsukigakure_. Ino told you that, remember?”

“I remember, but I wasn’t prepared for how hot it actually was going to be.”

“Would you like me to fan you while we walk, _hime-sama_.” 

Cattily, Yūna answered, “If it would make you happy, _goshujin-sama_.”

The raven-haired male had to swallow past the sudden thickness in his throat. He licked his lips as he narrowed his eyes at his lover. “Yūna. Not here.”

“You started it.”

“And you took it too far.” 

With an incredulous expression on her face, Yūna quirked an eyebrow at her lover. “I… you’re insatiable. Horny at the mention of a word.” 

Shikamaru merely clicked his tongue in annoyance, and continued the rest of the walk to the _Hokage’s_ office in silence. Once inside the cool building, he sidled closer to the dark-haired woman beside him to ward off the lingering stares of the other _nin_ that were there— especially the men. 

He wasn’t jealous, by any means. In fact, the Nara was—for lack of better word— proud to be the one who could stake a claim on Yūna. Those men would be blind to not notice her beauty and fall for her allure. What he didn’t appreciate though, were the hungry stares that always followed her around. She paid them no mind, but it still didn’t hurt to show everyone that she was **his**.

Alright, so maybe he was a **tad** jealous… and possessive. Who could blame him? It wasn’t as if she knew that he was glaring at everyone to keep them away from her. 

“Maybe if you glare a little harder they’ll start dropping like flies,” Yūna mused so softly that Shikamaru was barely able to perveive her words. When he did make sense of them, though, he had the decency to blush and turn his gaze away from the onlookers.

She was so unflappable that it further grated on the Nara’s nerves. He didn’t even sense the tiniest flare of irritation or jealousy after his talk with Temari. It was as if the whole ordeal had never happened; like it had been swept under the rug afterwards. Out of sight, out of mind. 

However, for the duration that Temari was there… it could just be his wishful thinking, but he had **felt** the tiniest flare of irritation and jealousy from Yūna. She never would have tried to show up Temari in the domestic department otherwise. It was Yūna’s style to intimidate her adversaries in the subtlest of ways— she chipped at their self-perception bit by bit until they started questioning their own self; that was what made her such a fearsome opponent. 

She wasn’t afraid to use the most underhanded of tactics, no matter how long she had to wait for it to play out in her favor.

Just when he was disregarding all hope of feeling some semblance of possessiveness from the conniving woman, she asked nonchalantly— her tone too casual for it to sound like a normal query, “If I may ask, what happened after I left you and Temari- _sama_ in the living room?” 

A smirk tugged at the corners of Shikamaru’s lips, and he didn’t bother to suppress it as he reached out and brushed his left hand’s knuckles against the side of Yūna’s thigh. “Why? You **jealous**?” 

“ _Tch_. Hardly. I need to know what I’m going to be dealing with as Nara Shikamaru’s future wife— at least, until the end of the month.” The last bit left a bad taste in the Ueno heiress’ mouth, but she ignored it in favor of smiling at a familiar _Konoha nin_ that they passed by. She had seen the woman around town, and she knew that she was from the Hyūga clan from her eyes alone, but she didn’t know her name. 

Shikamaru nodded in greeting at Hinata, but kept on walking towards the meeting room where he and his lover were going to have the meeting that day. He didn’t dare let himself linger on the disappointment that he felt at Yūna’s words. They were the truth, and sometimes the truth just **hurt**. “I just told her that it was over between us.” _And that you were perfect for me. Oh, I also told her that I would always choose you over anyone else. **Pathetic, right**?_

Yūna gave a hum of approval at that as she looked up at him, then smiled and stopped in her tracks— which made Shikamaru stop as well. The light illuminated his profile, and she noticed the hairline scratch on his jaw that was a light red color. She could only assume that it was from that morning’s tryst. Shikamaru turned to look at her, only to be met by her warm fingertips touching the scar gently.

“What is it?” Tha Nara asked softly, as he reached up and encircled her wrist gently. 

“I just noticed that I scratched your face earlier.” 

He then pulled at her hand until her fingers were pressed against his lips, then proceeded to kiss her fingertips. “You’re so… I don’t know. Hot and cold.”

From the corner of his eye, he noticed movement and cast a quick glance there. What he saw made him sigh, as his chest tightened; in disappointment or genuine hurt, he wasn’t sure. He forced a smirk to his face, even if he felt like scowling all the while. “Ah, that explains it.” 

Guilt gnawed at Yūna’s gut violently. She had done the affectionate gesture as a show of provocation towards Temari, but the sudden darkening in Shikamaru’s eyes when he pieced things together made her regret what she had done. Still, Yūna pushed the feeling away as best as she could and— almost as if in apology— leaned up on her toes to press a light kiss to her lover’s lips. 

That kiss didn’t serve its purpose, though. Instead of lightening his feelings up, it only made the Nara sink deeper into a silent melancholy. He had agreed to a ‘no strings attached’ relationship, thinking that he wouldn’t be the one to get attached, but he had gone and shot that promise out of the water.

He had known it all along, but admitting it— even to just himself— didn’t make it any easier to accept. He was starting to fall in love with Yūna.

 

***

 

Out of all the plans that Shikamaru had devised to keep himself away from Yūna— even for just one night— to clear his head and think of a way to stop whatever it was that was happening with his heart, he didn’t think that he’d succumb to drinking himself blind at his father’s grave. 

“I don’t want this, _tou-san_ ,” Shikamaru mused with a slight slur before finishing off the _sake_ in his cup. As if on instinct, he refilled the tiny ceramic and took another sip of the clear liquid. “But I want her. She’s… _tch_ , she’s more troublesome than _okaa-san_. Scarier, too. You’d like her as a daughter-in-law.”

Only the chilly night air rustling through the nearby trees answered the Nara’s words. He lapsed into silence after that spiel, and made himself busy with downing more of the clear liquor. 

He didn’t want to lie to Yūna about his whereabouts, so he had waited until she was sound asleep in his _futon_ before he snuck out to his father’s grave. Of course, he still felt bad about sneaking out on her, but his heart felt so heavy in his chest. He couldn’t take not talking about it anymore. He needed to vent, and who better to vent to than Shikaku. Shikamaru just wished that his father could actually answer him.

“Am I stupid for letting my feelings get the better of me?” The Nara chuckled sardonically. “Ah, it’s going to hurt so fucking bad when she leaves me.”

Shikamaru lapsed into another bout of silence, only broken by the occasional clinking of his _sake_ bottle against his drinking cup. He only had a few more shots to go before he finished the bottle. It was a miracle that he was still sitting upright. “Do you think she’ll fall in love with me if I tried? _Pft_. Stupid, stupid man.” 

He looked up at the night sky and let out a slew of self-deprecating laughter. His vision was spinning, and he felt like he was going to pass out at any given moment, but he pushed on with his drunken rambling. “She’d want for **nothing** if she married me. **If** , Shikamaru, **if**. Then again, she already has everything so she doesn’t need me.”

Slurred chuckles passed Shikamaru’s lips once more, as he let his head loll to the side. He closed his eyes to stop his world from spinning any further, but forwent the _sake_ cup in favor of drinking straight from the bottle. He was way past wasted, and **way** past propriety. “Did I mention that you’d love her as a daughter-in-law? She’s fucking perfect, _tou-san_. And it’s going to ruin me when she moves on with her life.”

Another slew of drunken laughter followed that admission, only to be followed by the sound of quiet sobs fading away in the cold night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo! Okay, so I know it's all over the place right now, with all these feelings being thrown left and right, but everything will make sense soon. And I do have to admit that I took a page out of my own book while writing Shikamaru's little drinking episode. I'm one of those people who keep talking and laughing, only to burst out crying, and I felt like Shikamaru was the same if pushed into a corner, per se. 
> 
> I dunno, I just feel like with him being sort of quiet and with him being the way he is, well, he's going to be an emotional wreck when drunk. But I could be wrong.
> 
> I could rewrite this and scrap this chapter altogether though. I'm not too sure yet. But your opinions on this would be nice. <3


	16. 143 - 16

Shikamaru didn’t know what was worse: the incessant pounding in his head, or hearing Yūna’s worried screeching. He would have been better off sleeping at the graveyard if it meant that he would get some peace and quiet. And he **would have** done it, if his guilt hadn’t reared its irritating head and told him that his lover would be wondering where he was. It was safe to say that he was whipped; well and truly whipped. 

“And where have you been all night? I’ve be- _okaa-san_ ’s been so worried about you,” Yūna snapped irately as she set down a bowl of warm congee in front of the Nara. Her grey eyes locked fiercely with his hazy, brown irises, but she faltered when she felt her heart start to beat erratically in her chest. Shikamaru’s gaze, despite being half-lidded at the moment, was more intense somehow. It was a glimpse at the underlying dominance that he reserved for the bedroom, and it was hot as hell.

The Nara picked up the ceramic spoon, and was about to get started on his breakfast when his lover spoke up once more— even more irate this time, “Are you not going to answer me? Where were you last night?”

That made something inside the raven-haired male snap. Anger bubbled up within him and quickly consumed his hungover mind. His eyes narrowed into angry slits as he regarded Yūna. He was in love with her, but he wasn’t going to sit there and take her bullshit. “It’s none of your fucking business.”

Yūna’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch, and she had to take a couple of seconds to let Shikamaru’s words sink in. She didn’t think that he would actually use her words against her, partnered with that venomous tone. She was actually speechless for a few seconds, until she managed to spit out a coherent string of words. “I- it **is** my business.”

 _Was this how Shikamaru felt when I turned his questions down?_ Yūna thought to herself. Her mind was racing with so many thoughts and possible comebacks that it was making her head hurt. One question rang loud and clear, though: **_Why did she care?_**

“It’s none of your business. End of discussion, Yūna.”

Just as Shikamaru got up from the table and was about to clean up his untouched meal, a _senbon_ embedded itself a few centimeters away from where he was reaching out to get his bowl. Brown irises met grey ones again; both of them held varying degrees of anger and irritation, yet they still met each other head on.

“How **dare** you dismiss me like that? You have no right-”

More irritation bubbled up within Shikamaru, which was doubled when the pounding in his head got even worse. He didn’t want to do it, but he just wanted her to get off his back. “Just like you have no right to ask me where I was. We **aren’t** together, Yūna.”

That comeback caused the raven-haired woman’s stomach to twist painfully. She felt a chill envelop her entire body— starting from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. Hell, she even felt lightheaded. “I know damn well that we aren’t together, Shikamaru. But I still have the right to know where you were.”

“No, you don’t. Just like I don’t.”

“I-” The Ueno sputtered irately. She then gritted her teeth when she saw Shikamaru bypass her _senbon_ and start cleaning up the meal that Yoshino had lovingly made before she left the house. “I deserve to know because you’re **mine** , Shikamaru! You’re  **mine** and I was damn worried about you!”

That brought a hush over the two of them, with Shikamaru frozen in place as he tried to make sense of what his lover had just said. Instead of being pleased with the admission though, he only felt more anger at her words. “Don’t fuck with me, Yūna!”

There were very few instances when Yūna let her anger get the best of her; one of those moments was when she saw Hidan kill her mother and youngest siblings— it was followed by a raging anger that consumed her entire being, to the point where her eyed flickered rapidly from the _Mugen_ to her normal eye color. This was one of those times. 

Yūna’s eyes flickered to the _Mugen’s_ luminescent yellow color, before switching back to her grey irises as she tried to get a hold of her emotions. “I’m not **fucking** with you, Shikamaru.”

However, the Nara wasn’t backing down— even if he could feel the effects of his lover’s _kekkei genkai_ dragging his conscious deep into an all-consuming darkness. His vision blurred at the edges, but he couldn’t— for the life of him— look away from those stunning eyes of hers.

“You’re the one who said that there won’t be feelings involved. Now what’s this with me being yours?” He should have been happy, but he was far from it. Shikamaru was infuriated not only because Yūna harbored some sort of feelings for him, but because she **did** , and it was clear to him now that she was going to repress the hell out of it until she could cut off all ties with him when she left at the end of the month.

He felt… **used** , in a sense. And it hurt like hell… or maybe that was because his entire body felt like it was being burned.

 

***

 

“Oh- oh, _kami-sama_. Shikamaru,” Yūna breathed out in a panic as she scampered over to where her lover had collapsed on to the floor. Cold sweat cast a thin layer on his body, and she wiped the dampness on his forehead away as she placed a hand on it.

The _Mugen_ had brought him under an illusion— one that had claimed so many lives before him.

Yūna’s hands shook as her fingers ghosted over the vital points on Shikamaru’s body; namely, his temples, forehead, carotid artery, and his chest. Had he been any other person, the raven-haired woman wouldn’t have troubled herself by worrying, but the situation was different. Not only would Shikamaru’s death by her hand warrant an all-out war between their villages, but she also didn’t think that she could take the guilt of having killed someone that was slowly becoming important to her.

Whether she wanted to admit it or not, the fact remained: she was starting to grow fond of the Nara.

“Okay.” The Ueno heiress took a deep breath to calm her frazzled nerves and get her brain to focus on the task at hand. She placed her left hand over Shikamaru’s closed eyes, while her right hand drifted down to lace her fingers with his. She didn’t need to do the latter, but feeling her lover’s hand in hers helped calm her racing heart.

With another deep sigh, the raven-haired woman closed her eyes and delved into Shikamaru’s mind to get him out of the _jutsu_.

A downright accurate copy of her was the first thing to greet her in her lover’s subconscious. From the tiny scar beneath her left ear, to the exact shade of her lipstick— it was as if she were looking in a mirror. The only difference was the malicious glint in her doppelganger’s gaze; it made her skin crawl with how cold it was.

Yūna reached out and touched her fingertips to the clone’s arm to see the thing’s ‘memories’, only to run it through with a hail of liquid bullets after two seconds. Anger bubbled up within her, along with a deep-seated sadness that she couldn’t shake off.

 _Was that how Shikamaru saw me?_ She shook the thought from her head, and tried to push forward without letting her lover’s worst fears affect her too much.

Still, her doppelganger’s words rang loud and clear in her mind. 

 _‘You’re fun right now, but you’ll never be worth my while, Shikamaru. I can and **will** leave you as soon as I’m bored.’ _It made her stomach churn with unwarranted guilt because, no matter how much she tried to suppress the feeling, she knew that she was **that** horrible of a person.

Yūna might have been the image of the perfect clan leader’s daughter, but deep down she was far from it. Had everyone known exactly what went down with her past lovers, they would all flinch away from her.

In her defense though, she needed those cruel and unfeeling words to nip things in the bud quickly and efficiently. She didn’t need anyone hanging around her and holding her back because of unwanted feelings. Yūna felt it necessary to hurt another’s feelings just to preserve her own. It was unfair of her, but it was better than getting hurt in the end. She never wanted to regret anything and, so far, she hadn’t regretted everything that she had said and done.

With finality in her thoughts, Yūna pressed forward— steadily eradicating all of the frozen figures that she encountered along the way. Various characters were there; from what looked to be reincarnations of Sound _nin_ , to a figure of Hidan that made the raven-haired woman freeze before she burned it out of existence.

The deeper she ventured through Shikamaru’s psyche, the darker it got. It was as if she were tossed back into the midst of the war; and it wasn’t a pleasant sight. Far from it, really.

She didn’t know how long she had been erasing all of the antagonists in Shikamaru’s mind, but when she got rid of another— more malicious— version of her, she started to feel just how big of a toll it was taking on her body. Her muscles were shaking, and her vision was starting to blur at the edges, yet she pushed forward until she could hear her lover’s familiar voice; only, it wasn’t screaming obscenities like she had expected.

Her infallible Konoha _nin_ was crying. 

The sight that greeted grey irises made them close tightly to hold back the onslaught of tears that were threatening to fall. Yūna pursed her lips tightly as she turned her head to the side in an effort to spare herself the heartbreak. Had she been a lesser woman, she would have brought her hands up to cover her ears.

There was nothingness where Shikamaru sat; just an empty space that overlooked his biggest fear of Konoha being wiped out— along with everything and everyone that he held dear. Everything that he had fought so hard to protect, decimated in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, as if feeling her presence, the Nara looked up from his spot on the non-existent floor. His tears didn’t cease falling, and they only seemed to gain more traction at the sight of Yūna. Despite her resolve not to let it happen, the Ueno felt her heart slowly crumbling in her chest.

She never wanted to see that look on Shikamaru’s face again; the look of defeat. The look that said that he had given up on everything— that he’d given up on fighting.

“Shi-” The raven-haired woman paused as she tried to gauge her own feelings. She wasn’t mad at him anymore; not after going through what she just did. And so, she opted for a softer approach— one that she knew would bring back some semblance of normalcy to the man in front of her. “Nara- _sama_.”

What was normally used as a name to denote deep respect and formality had become a pet name for them. It was all backwards, just like their relationship— or lack thereof. The thought brought a small, sad smile to Yūna’s lips, even as she reached a hand out to Shikamaru.

Slowly, as if the woman in front of him was going to disappear, Shikamaru reached out to the Yūna that he had so carefully etched into his mind; not one with a malicious glint in her eyes, or a sardonic smile playing on her lips, no. The Yūna that he knew was a far cry from that earlier image of her. She had a sharp tongue and an even sharper mind, but she never looked… scornful.

Yūna wrapped her fingers around her lover’s hand and pulled him up to his feet. As soon as he was on his feet, she surprised him by wrapping her arms tightly around his waist as she burrowed her face into his chest.

Had he not been paying attention to her despite the initial shock from her actions, he never would have heard the very words that made his heart practically stop in his chest. “I’m sorry, Nara- _sama_.”

He knew that tone. It was never an indicator of good things, because that tone always meant a goodbye was going to follow. “Don’t do this to me, Yūna. Don’t leave me, please.”

The raven-haired woman remained quiet, only choosing to hug her lover even tighter as he kept on asking her not to leave him. Part of her didn’t want to, but a more rational part of her **knew** that she had to— to fulfill her long-postponed dreams.

Wordlessly, she pulled away from him and cupped his cheeks in her hands. She then pulled him down to her height and pressed a tender kiss to his lips, before whispering, “You’re making it hard for me to leave. Don’t make me fall in love with you, Shikamaru. Please.”

With that, she pressed a light kiss to his forehead before closing her eyes and biting her lip to keep herself from screaming in pain. One by one, all of the seals that were etched onto her back lit up as she tried to erase this ‘dream’ from Shikamaru’s subconscious. There was a reason why those in her clan tried their best to have complete control over their _kekkei genkai_ , and that was because retrieving someone from the deepest confines of its _jutsu_ meant unbearable pain for those who were fortunate enough to live through the process of getting seals on their body.

Those who were too weak-willed to receive their seals either went insane or died within the _jutsu_.

Yūna was starting to wish that she hadn’t received the seals, because she felt like her entire being was being burned alive. It was so painful that death would have been the easy way out, and she was close to wishing for it— had it not been for the tight grip that Shikamaru now had on her hand. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm so sorry if I just got to update. Everything's been so hectic because Taro got sick, and he was at his vet's for two days. And before that, my other dogs were also sick— namely the Belgian Malinois and the Shar Pei. But I'll try to get things done faster now that they're fine. :D
> 
> Also, for those who are curious, I have 6 dogs in total. So yes, it's like having a small army of toddlers. <3
> 
> I'll also try to get back to your comments ASAP! I promise! Thank you for being patient with me. <3


	17. 143 - 17

“If her condition gets any worse, we’ll have to inform her clan,” Kakashi muttered under his breath as he stared intently at the raven-haired woman that laid on the meticulously-arranged hospital bed. “As it is, we **should** have told them yesterday, Shikamaru.”

He **knew** that. He completely understood that having kept this a confidential matter had its repercussions, but he also knew that the moment that her clan got wind of her condition, they were going to take her away. Away from him. Maybe even for good.

He was just so tired. Mentally and physically.

It was selfish, but he needed— no, he **wanted** more time with Yūna. He wanted to straighten things out between them, even if he was still confused by his own feelings. His memories from the _jutsu_ were blurry at most, but he couldn’t shake the tiny echoes of Yūna’s voice in his head.

 _‘You’re making it hard for me to leave.’_ Shikamaru was sure that it was a memory and not a figment of his imagination— because flashes of Yūna holding him tightly while uttering those words kept flickering in his mind’s eye. He could still remember the way that he had held on to her in that dream world— as if she was his only reason for living. He felt that his feelings were pathetic and screamed borderline desperate, but he couldn’t care less.

He was ready to own up to his own feelings, even if they weren’t exactly feelings of love quite yet. What he was sure of, however, was that he didn’t want her to go. Unless she wanted to, of course.

The last part made his gut wrench with apprehension, but he tamped the feeling down as best as he could. _‘There’s no use in thinking on it now. She hasn’t left you… **yet.’**_ The Nara thought bitterly to himself.

With the way that the Ueno had been faring for the past couple of hours, though, it was inevitable that they would have to inform her clan. Not even Sakura could decipher what exactly was going on within Yūna’s system— all that she could confirm was that her chakra reserves were completely depleted. Ino had tried to help as well, but she couldn’t get past the dark abyss that she had kept getting sucked into whenever she tried her mind _jutsus_ on Yūna.

Another cause of concern was the sudden appearance of burning red seals all over the raven-haired woman’s back. Kakashi and Shikamaru thought that it was similar to the seal that Orochimaru had put on Sasuke all those years ago, only to be proven wrong when they saw the Ueno clan’s symbol among the numerous marks.

A small whimper made Shikamaru look up from staring at Yūna’s hand on top of the covers, and his decision was made when he saw her features twisted in pain. He wanted her— hell, he may even **love** her— and the last thing he wanted was for her to suffer. “I’ll send an ANBU to inform her family."

Kakashi leveled his gaze at his advisor and nodded. He could tell that something much deeper was going on between those two, but he knew that only dragging it out into the light would rock it on its already-unsteady foundation. He could have ordered Shikamaru to send word to the Ueno clan, but he also knew that in doing so, he could permanently lose his advisor, so he kept quiet. “You’ve made the right choice, Shikamaru.”

“It doesn’t make it hurt any less, _Hokage-sama_.”

 

***

 

The minute that Ueno Akira received the message from the _Konoha_ ANBU _,_ he immediately set off for the Hidden Leaf. He didn’t even bother with packing any extra clothes or extra weapons in his rush— however, he did make a short stop to retrieve Yukio from his family’s restaurant. It was times like this that he was thankful for not offing the flirtatious bastard— even if the brunet had charmed one of his exes right from under his nose. 

It didn’t take them long to arrive at Konoha, and when they were ushered past the gates and led to the hospital after simply giving their identification, Akira had to admit that their _Hokage_ worked **fast**.

“This Nara person must mean something to Yūna if she’s willing to go through all this for him,” Yukio commented with a slight quirk of his lips. “Last time she went this crazy over a man was when-”

“ **Shut up** , Ishida. Don’t even bring up that bastard’s name,” Akira growled irately as he ran after their escort. He didn’t bother to wait up for his brunet companion.

“Eh, no use in talking about the dead, anyway.” Yukio chuckled, then followed the fuming Ueno to their destination.

When they were a few paces away from the hospital building, the eldest Ueno son whistled a curt, yet lilting tune that sent a small flock of wren scurrying from the nearest rooftop. He would have preferred for a quicker means to tell his brothers and their father about what happened, but he was positive that none of them even checked their e-mails. They were stuck in their old ways, and nothing was going to change that anytime soon.

“Through here, Ueno- _san_ ,” Yukio and Akira’s escort piped up as he hastened past door after door of sleeping patients. The latter of the two was tempted to just push the Konoha _nin_ aside and run towards his sister’s room— and he **would have** , had he known which room she was in.

Once they reached the door nearing the end of the hall, the _nin_ knocked on the door and announced their presence before opening it. The sight that greeted Akira made him curse aloud— propriety be damned. It wasn’t the most ideal first impression, what with all the strangers in the room, but good manners were the furthest thing from his mind at that moment.

Akira marched over to where his sister laid prone on the hospital bed, then touched the sliver of the seal that was poking out from the nape of her neck. He flinched when he saw the pulsing red color thrumming through her skin, and beckoned Yukio to stand beside him.

Grey eyes flickered over all pairs of eyes in the room—lingered on brown ones— before they landed on ones that were as dark as night. “My apologies for our rudeness, _Hokage-sama_.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Kakashi answered amicably, then tried for a slight smile. Akira returned it with a perfect smile of his own— very impersonal and misleading, but it did the job.

“I do apologize, Nara- _san_ , but you’re going to have to let go of my sister’s hand,” The eldest Ueno in the room stated as politely as he could. His words may have been friendly, but his gaze was anything but.

Shikamaru met the man’s stare head-on, and a small part of him wanted to contest his authority and keep holding his lover’s hand— had it not been for Kakashi’s sideways glance at him that told him to do as the Ueno said.

Slowly, reluctantly, the Nara let go of Yūna’s hand— only to try to hold it again when Akira flipped his sister onto her stomach. Yūna had landed with a dull thud on the sizeable mattress, and all eyes widened at the rough handling that she was receiving.

Akira didn’t look at anyone even though he felt their eyes boring into his back— all of them contemptuous and curious at the same time. He didn’t need to tell them his reasons, but he felt that he had to— just so they wouldn’t think that he had it out for his sister or anything. “I can’t touch her for long because any sort of physical contact activates my own seals. Ishida can’t touch her as well, because her seals will absorb all of his chakra the moment his skin touches hers.”

That seemed to have made sense to the observers in the room, because Sakura’s green eyes had become softer as she took note of all that was happening in front of her, and Shikamaru’s own eyes had warmed a bit with understanding. Kakashi, however, still remained stoic.

“I could have asked any of you to help, but the seals work to protect her by slowly absorbing a normal _nin’_ s chakra— draining them of energy so that they would be weak until someone comes to save her… or any of us bearing the seals. It makes the dreams so much worse, though; the more chakra that it absorbs… the more horrible the visions,” Akira mused softly as he grabbed the pair of scissors from the small pan beside the bed, then proceeded to cut his sister’s shirt off.

Silence reigned upon the room, until Shikamaru spoke up, “But you said that the moment Yukio- _san_ touches her, all of his chakra will be depleted…”

“He’s a… he’s something of a spare chakra reserve for Yūna— to make things easier to explain,” Akira answered stoically as he parted the flaps of the cut-up shirt. He clicked his tongue in irritation when he saw the full extent of what his sister was going through.

Realization dawned upon Shikamaru once more. “That time when you… kissed her. You replenished her chakra reserves. Will you be doing that when she wakes up?”

“My sweetheart always did have a thing for the smart ones,” Yukio commented with a sly smirk aimed at Shikamaru, then chuckled when the Nara’s brown eyes narrowed at him.

“ **Ishida** ,” Akira snapped, and the brunet’s sly smirk simmered down into a playful smile that irritated Shikamaru more than anything. They were such a far cry from Tsujiri- _san_ — immaculately polite and insufferably friendly Tsujiri— that it made him wonder if Yūna’s attitude had rubbed off on them somehow.

The sole blond in the room chuckled— filled with actual humor that confused all three Konoha _nin_. It seemed to Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kakashi that Yukio got a kick out of getting a rise from **anyone** ; whether it was Akira or Shikamaru. “ _Hai_ , Akira- _hiko_. I’ll shut up.”

 

***

 

Almost two hours had passed and Shikamaru was getting impatient. Hell, even Yukio had taken to asking Sakura and Kakashi out for a late lunch in his boredom. His irritation must have shown on his face, because Akira spoke up from where he was carefully replacing the cold towelette that he had draped over Yūna’s back. It helped soothe her physical pain, but did nothing for the mental and emotional pain she was going through. “My sister cares about you a lot.”

Shikamaru perked up from his slouched stance near the window, and regarded the older male with a curious gaze.

“She’s dead-set on following her dreams and ‘not letting anything tie her down’, but we all know that she doesn’t want that. She merely **thinks** that she does.” Akira smiled as he shook his head. “So, if you care for her as much as I think you do, you’ll be patient with her.”

“If I don’t?” Shikamaru was far from serious about his question, but he wanted to know the answer. He wanted to gauge just how much Yūna’s brother really cared about her.

Akira shrugged. “Then you’d have lost the best lady in the Land of Fire.” Then he chuckled. “That, and me and my brothers will tear you to pieces.”

A chill ran through the Nara’s veins as the other man’s eyes briefly flickered to his _Mugen_. Still, he refused to let his gaze falter as he spoke calmly. “I’d be damn stupid to let her go.” 

Silence blanketed the room for a minute, until it was broken by Akira’s laughter. “You’re going to give Yū- _chan_ a run for her money. When all this is over, why don’t we have a drink?”

“What’s this about drinking?” Both men in the room turned towards the new voice. Akira grinned at his brothers, as Shikamaru regarded the newcomers with a polite nod. It was unmistakable that they were his lover’s brothers— they all had the same black hair and grey eyes.

“Ah, you must be _nee-san_ ’s pretend fiancé,” Hisaki— the youngest of the brothers— piped up as he traipsed further into the room. He stopped by Yūna’s bed and gingerly lifted the corner of the damp towelette that Akira had just replaced. “I’m Hisaki, that’s Haru- _nii_.”  
  
“Did you already give him ‘ **the talk** ’?” Haru asked with a pointed look towards Shikamaru.

Akira nodded with a grin. “Yeah, I did.”

“Damn it. I wanted to give him ‘the talk’,” Haru griped.

“Aki- _nii_ is both a sulker and a spoilsport; aren’t you used to it by now?” Hisaki teased his eldest brother as he folded up the towelette and put it inside the basin filled with cold water.

“You disrespectful brat,” Akira snapped. “I’m drowning you at the next meeting.” 

“I’m telling _nee-san_ ,” the youngest of the trio sing-songed; as if said sister wasn’t currently face-down on a hospital bed with angry, red marks on her back.

If Shikamaru were to be honest, he would admit that these three in front of him were giving him a migraine. **They were worse than children.** He almost felt stupid for playing into Akira’s ‘we’re going to tear you to shreds’ spiel. True, he didn’t doubt that they would do that, but to have played into his theatrics was another thing entirely.

“Now, now, let’s tone it down. I can see Nara- _san_ ’s respect for us dwindling by the second.” Haru chuckled as he moved to stand next to his sister’s bed.

Shikamaru sidled closer to the three Ueno men and watched silently as they simultaneously made a flurry of hand signals that were too fast for him to pick up. Once the hand signals were complete, they pressed the tips of their index and middle fingers to the red etching of their clan’s insignia on Yūna’s back.

Brown eyes widened in surprise as they saw the red seals fade from Yūna’s back— until they were nothing more than a touch darker than her skin tone. What surprised him more, though, was the sight of all Yūna’s brothers donning the same seals— which was evident because some were on their arms and the backs of their necks. While their sister’s marks looked like a weirdly intricate sunburn pattern, their marks were an eerie yellow-orange color.

Haru inhaled through gritted teeth and was the first one to step away from his sister. He looked down at the marks on his arms and placed a shaking hand ontop of his left bicep. “And I just had to go through this a few days ago.”

Earlier, it wasn’t evident to Shikamaru how Akira had sounded so sure about Yūna caring about him, but it was at that moment that he knew. Akira had been so sure about Yūna’s feelings because she never would have gotten him out of the _jutsu_ if she felt nothing towards him.

Because getting him out of there meant that she had to put her brothers under the same pain that she was feeling. Whoever had made that seal surely wanted the bearers to selflessly have each other’s backs. Their sibling-relationship was, admittedly, making Shikamaru feel a little envious.

“So, Nara, how about that drink?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Can't really talk right now since sleep is dragging me down, but I will get back to your comments real soon.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the support! It makes me so happy when I see your comments and Kudos. <3


	18. 143 - 18

“I’d rather not leave Yūna,” Shikamaru stated hesitantly after the fourth time that his lover’s brothers asked him to go out for drinks. He didn’t want to be unhospitable or rude, but it was true that he didn’t want to leave the raven-haired woman. Hell, he wouldn’t even be able to stomach ingesting anything while she still laid prone on the hospital bed. 

“ _Nee-chan_ ’s going to have your head when she finds out that you’ve been pressuring Nara- _san_ to drink; she’s going to have **both** of your heads, Aki- _nii_ , Haru- _nii_.” Hisaki clicked his tongue in mild irritation as he tried to relax in the uncomfortable chair that was pushed to one corner of the room. He ran a hand through his hair and pushed his bangs out of his eyes, as his gaze pinned his older brothers in place.

Akira rolled his eyes and scoffed. It wasn’t a secret that Hisaki’s favorite sibling was Yūna, but—in his opinion— he didn’t have to be such a spoilsport like their sister all the time. There was nothing more that he wanted than to tell him to shut up, but he **knew** that Yūna would give him hell for it when she woke up, so he was the one who kept his mouth shut.

“Yeah, _aniki_. You’re just a few bottles away from becoming an alcoholic,” Haru teased his brother. “No sense in trying to find sense about anything at the bottom of a bottle.”

Shikamaru visibly flinched at that jab. Even though it wasn’t aimed at him in any way, it still hit close to home. It really hadn’t been too long ago since he had drunk himself to the point of blacking out, and the ensuing hangover was still fresh on his mind; not to mention all of the reasons why he had resorted to drinking in the first place.

“Ooh, Nara- _san_ just flinched,” Hisaki pointed out with a wide grin. “Did you try to make sense of your feelings for my _nee-san_ with a bottle of _sake_?”

Instantaneously, all three pairs of grey eyes landed on him and scrutinized him to the very last fiber of his being. He had hit the nail dead-on, and it was at that moment that Shikamaru started wishing for the saccharine sweet politeness that most of their clan members seemed to exude. He didn’t even know **why** they were being so casual with him, when that wasn’t what he had heard about them **at all**.

Then again, most of those accounts were from women. It just went to show that the Ueno siblings were so flirtatious— maybe even lotharios. Shikamaru shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. “I… didn’t.”

Haru chuckled and moved to clap the Nara on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. My _aniki_ more so than others.”

“Hey!” Akira protested, just as he threw a _kunai_ right at his younger brother.

“ _Oi_ , Aki- _nii_ , we’re not at home.” Hisaki clicked his tongue in irritation as he unfolded himself from his seat. He then walked over to where Haru was and assessed the weapon that was embedded in his dark blue jacket; right over his heart.

The Nara could only look on as the scene unfolded in front of him: Haru grasped the _kunai_ by the handle and flicked it back at his older brother (who caught it with ease) with a laugh, then reached into his inner pocket and took out a thick stack of bills. It was a lot of money to carry around, but Shikamaru couldn’t fault him for it when it had saved his life.

“ _Aniki_ ,” Haru whined like a petulant child. “I was going to use this to pay for the upgrades on the new _onsen_.  _Tch._ ”

That seemed to have taken the wind out of Akira’s sails, because he visibly deflated. His shoulders sank and his posture seemed to have closed in. “Ah, _gomen_. Just go to the bank and have them replaced.”

At that moment, Shikamaru wasn’t sure what more they leaned towards: sybaritic or hedonistic. It was plain as day, though, that these siblings enjoyed the finer things in life more than everyone else. That, and they were childish as hell.

 

***

 

As the first vestiges of light welcomed Yūna back from her slumber, she felt warmth enveloping her the moment she opened her eyes. The familiar feeling of his skin, and the very same minty scent coming from him was enough to tell her that it was Shikamaru that was holding her— and the fact that his lips were slowly pressing tender kisses against the side of her neck.

“Enjoy your nap, Yū- _chan_?” Haru’s deep voice reverberated off the walls, which made the raven-haired woman’s grey irises dart up over her lover’s shoulders; only to land on the sight of all three of her brothers. 

Slowly, since her muscles still ached from the effects of the seal etched onto her body, Yūna raised her arms up and wrapped them around her lover. A small smile made its way onto her face before she pressed a light kiss to his shoulder— only to be replaced with a frown when she caught the scent of alcohol coming from him.

Instantaneously, she turned to glare at her three brothers. “You little shits. Did you **make** him drink?”

“Aki- _nii_ tricked him into drinking _sake_ ,” Hisaki tattled, as he and Haru smiled at their sister. Then, he added, “And Haru- _nii_ pressured him into drinking three more bottles with them." 

That wiped the smile off of Haru’s face, and he turned his glare to the youngest Ueno. “ _Oi_ , you snitch.” 

“No wonder why he’s so wasted.” Yūna sighed, then soothingly rubbed her lover’s back— even though she was starting to feel his heaviness settling on top of her.

Sensing their sister’s struggle, all three of the Ueno brothers moved forward and carefully hauled the inebriated Nara off to the couch that was pressed to one side of the room. Once they were sure that he wouldn’t roll off, they moved back to crowd around Yūna.

Silence reigned over the siblings, until the sole lady in the room spoke up. “Thank you. I know just how busy you guys are.”

“Never too busy for our sister,” Akira answered with a slight smile that his siblings mirrored.

“But humor me, Yū- _chan_ , do you care for him?” Haru asked softly. “Because he certainly cares about you.”

Yūna sighed. “I… well, I do care about him, but…”

“No buts, _nee-chan_. Either you care about him or you don’t,” Hisaki piped up, his gaze never straying from his sister.

“You know that he’s nothing like that fucker, right? He deserves more than to be strung along.” The eldest Ueno sat down at the foot of the hospital bed and reached out to squeeze his sister’s foot. “It hurts to be strung along.”

Aforementioned sister snorted a giggle, then clicked her tongue as she kicked his hand away. “You would know. Aki- _nii_. What did your latest flame want this time? A **child**?”

“Yeah,” Akira answered under his breath; it was so quiet that all the conscious occupants in the room strained to hear his voice above the steady hum of the fluorescent lights.

“Why didn’t you?” Hisaki piped up just as softly as his brother did.

The eldest Ueno shrugged. “I can do marriage and commitment, but I don’t want kids yet. Having a kid is basically like kissing my freedom goodbye.”

“Well, some people think otherwise. To each their own, I guess,” Haru added in his own sentiments with a smile, then continued, “Kana’s two months pregnant. We’re thinking of getting married soon.”

“ **You**!? **Settling down**!? Maybe I still am dreaming,” Yūna exclaimed animatedly, only to wince when her exaggerated arm movements pulled at her sore muscles.

“Maybe **you** should take it easy. Always so dramatic, Yū- _chan_ ,” Haru quipped with a teasing grin on his lips. “Maybe you’ll be the next one to get married.”

Yūna’s eyes followed where her brother’s gaze went, and she had to tamp down the abrupt feeling of butterflies fleeting around in her stomach. Shikamaru still laid sprawled out on the couch with his mouth hanging open, but the raven-haired woman had to admit that he could still make her heart flutter; even in his unflattering state.

 _Marriage? Kids? Settling down with Shikamaru?_ It wasn’t as if she hadn’t thought about the very circumstance with Shikamaru, nor had she tried to envision any other future with him, but the very thought of it made her stomach twist itself in knots. Whether it was elation or apprehension, she wasn’t quite sure.

The very thought of having **more** with Shikamaru excited and scared her at the same time.

“That’s a scary thought,” the only female in the room mused softly.

Simultaneously, her brothers all rolled their eyes. And, as if on cue, Hisaki spoke up, “Didn’t _okaa-san_ always tell us that doing something that scares us is something worth doing?”

That last sentiment brought a hush through the room, as all four Ueno siblings’ postures visibly slackened. Hisaki and Haru took a seat on either side of their sister’s bed and stared at her with a smile playing at their lips; they knew that they’d won. It was a small victory, and that there was going to be so much more to be done to change her stance about marriage, but it was a victory nonetheless.

“I’m going to go out and look for Ishida. He needs to replenish your chakra reserves,” Akira spoke up after what seemed like an eternity. He didn’t even wait for anyone to answer before he walked over to one of the open windows and jumped out into the night.

“Maybe we should stop giving him so much hell,” Yūna uttered wistfully as she stared at the window that her eldest brother had gone through.

Another beat of silence, until all three of them simultaneously agreed, “Hell no.”

 

***

 

“You know that this isn’t necessary, Yūna,” Shikamaru protested halfheartedly as the raven-haired woman fed him another portion of the warm stir-fry that she’d made for breakfast. It took some time for their small group to traverse to the Nara compound— what with Shikamaru refusing to be carried in any way, shape, or form— but they **had** made it, nonetheless.

“It’s the least I can do after my brothers tried to drown you in _sake_.” 

The Nara shook his head and encircled Yūna’s wrist with his fingers; pulling the food away from his face. His eyes were sharp as they took in the confusion on his lover’s face, and he almost felt his resolve crumble at the very sight of those eyes of hers, but he toughed it out. “You want me to not make it hard for you to leave me, then I expect the same sentiment. Don’t make it hard for me to **let** you leave.”

That seemed to surprise the Ueno, as evidenced by the miniscule widening of her eyes and the slight gasp that left her lips. “You weren’t supposed to… remember.”

“But I do.”

“I’m so sorry, Shikamaru.”

Silence reigned over the couple, and Yūna couldn’t be more thankful for the privacy that her brothers’ impromptu shopping trip with Yukio afforded them. She neither knew what to say, nor what to do, so she lowered her hands— that were holding the bowl of stir-fry and the chopsticks— to her lap and stared intently down at those items.

She was so tired of fighting her own feelings, even more so when she didn’t know what exactly she was fighting. Was it simple admiration? Infatuation? Love? She didn’t have a clue. All that Yūna was at that moment was a confused woman who was possibly in love with a man, who did or didn’t want the same thing that she did. It was a right mess, if she were to be honest.

“What do you want from me, Yūna? Because, frankly, I want **so much more** with you.”

Her heart felt as if it had stopped beating in her chest. She was so torn; so conflicted that tears pricked the backs of her eyes in premonition to the oncoming waterworks. “I don’t know. I want to accomplish my dreams, but I also want **you**. **I want both**.”

“Who ever said that I would try to stop you from accomplishing your dreams?” He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he held himself back; for her sake.

Shikamaru’s words brought a stillness to Yūna’s frantic mind. Everything seemed to just stop and freeze in place, while her thoughts organized themselves into a more comprehensible order. And then, the Nara’s voice cut through the hazy fog of thoughts once more, “You can leave, Yūna. Chase your dreams, travel, whatever you want to do. As long as you come back to me.”

 _That was way too cheesy, dumbass **.**_ The Nara mentally chided himself, but brushed past the cringe-worthy line in favor of hearing his lover’s shaky answer. “We don’t even know where this will go.”

The Nara cursed the woman in front of him for making him answer with such cheesy lines, but he knew that it was the answer that he was thinking— only uttered in such an embarrassing manner. “Then we’ll find out together.”

He was expecting tears or maybe watery words of agreement, but he wasn’t expecting a snicker that escalated into a full-blown laugh. Tears streamed down Yūna’s cheeks and she wiped them away with the back of the hand that was holding the chopsticks, only to give up when more tears replaced the ones that she’d cleared. “That was so cheesy, Nara- _sama_.”

A blush warmed the Nara’s cheeks, which made him avert his gaze from his lover to save himself a shred of dignity. But the redness on his face only intensified when she leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to his cheek.

“Okay.” Yūna didn’t know what she had agreed to, but what was clear to her was that she was willing to try things out, if it meant that she would still get to be with Shikamaru. Her dreams of becoming the best herbologist in the Land of Fire had kept her going despite being alone in that aspiration, but now… now she felt eons better with someone supporting her through her journey.

There was a compromise attached to that support, but coming back to Shikamaru didn’t have a bad ring to it. She could attest to that much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone!
> 
> As always, thank you so much for the support! <3  
> Your kudos and comments are greatly appreciated, and they make my day. So thank you so, so much!

**Author's Note:**

> Loved it? Hated it? Have some suggestions?  
> Comments are greatly appreciated. <3


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